Scrap-Iron Angel
by Koros45
Summary: After her final battle with Nova ends, Gally finds herself in a place that reminds her of home. Cyborgs battle and cards fly, but what happens when karma follows her in a world both similar and different to her own?
1. Junk Collector

Koros45 doesn't own GUNNM/Battle Angel Alita, or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.

Also this is post GUNNM's original ending of the manga (Before the events of The Last Order), so spoilers for the manga are rampant. If you haven't read the original manga yet it is recommended before reading further. It also starts out pre-5D's anime but will have some spoilers as the plot gets rolling. Both are fantastic works in their own right so consider this a warning to stop right now and check them both out before you continue.

Ride 1: Junk Collector

Gally remembered the euphoria of victory, Nova's body falling to the ground from the work of her Damascus blade. The feeble old man who had caused her so much pain was finally dead. The feeling that she'd be able to see Figure again, and maybe after that, Lou and Doc as well. Finally her battle against him was all over.

Then came the bomb outside of the inn, the mechanical bomb doll's grip too sudden and unexpected to react to. Gally struggled as much as she could with her one remaining arm, but she simply didn't have enough time to stop the impending explosion. Things around her flashed in a purple haze as the bomb's timer ran out.

Then things went black. In the ether she dreamed of space and the name Yoko.

/

Gally opened her functioning eye saw birds flying overhead, in a red haze that gradually leveled out to a grey sky. Her head was pounding and it took a moment for her to regain her senses. She blinked to make sure the eyelid still working. And then she raised her right hand.

Still there. The TUNED body's synthetic skin reflecting in the light of the morning. Wherever this was. Gally expected that to be all she had left, but she was still graced with the presence of legs. That didn't make any sense given that she'd just been set to explode by Nova's bomb, but she knew better than to question a good thing.

Then there was the whine of engines in the distance. Gally stood and immediately slipped, only after falling back down did she remember one of her feet had been cleaved by the fight with her false copy. Now the stump was fashioned like a peg leg. Gally grunted and helped herself up a second time, shaking her head so that her shoulder-length mess of hair was free of her one good eye's line of sight.

Was this Nova's plan as well? Did the scientist somehow plan for life after death? Those questions both were unsettling, but at the moment Gally couldn't afford to think of what-ifs. At the moment she had to think of survival.

She took a good look around herself. It was far different from the wastes beyond Nova's Granite Inn. The place was in poverty, a lot like Scrap-Iron City. Yet this was not the same. No one was out and Gally had a bad feeling that if she stayed out, she'd know exactly why. She was in an alleyway of sorts, with a dead end straight ahead of her. The other direction was far more promising, showing a walled in town with derelict skyscrapers and abandoned warehouses. And beyond that was mountains and mountains of scrap, piled up by the upper-class most likely.

Alita smelled the air. If anything, all of it was nostalgic.

She began moving forwards using the sheathed Damascus Blade as a crutch, walking towards the heaps of trash.

/

"No, Nerve. It needs to be faster than the last model. We have to make this thing with at least a five-year lifespan." Yusei said in the earpiece.

He was out in the trash dunes, looking for parts. The crimson D-Wheel he saw in his dreams was coming along, but it wasn't quite done yet. He just needed a suitable motor and beyond that an acceleration control chip for the CPU and then he could get to work. Usually Taka or Rally would be with him, searching for parts but today they were both resting. Yusei felt bad for deferring the work to his friends while he theory crafted what the machine in question would be able to do, following his dreams to catch fleeting Stardust.

"Well that just means the part you need will be hard to come by, unless a Security officer threw out his model this morning, and nobody jacked it for parts yet." Nerve's voice said.

"Right." Yusei said, wishing he'd been more awake and sociable. Yet at the moment it was the most he could do to just respond. He hadn't gotten a good sleep, dreams of the past haunting him.

Yusei looked down and took a breath. There was ribbed D-Wheel engine at his feet, but the main part he'd need was gone. Still, he was in the right spot. The man smelled a strong scent of gas and pulled a pair of goggles over his eyes, and threw a white scarf around his face. He didn't mind getting dirty from the scavenger hunt, but only if he yielded suitable results.

Yusei moved to another trash pile, stopping as he found a pair of skates that Rally might like. He gave the faded pink wheels a spin and threw them in his collecting bag.

"Found something Rally might like." Yusei chuckled.

Then he stopped. Below the skates was a beaten and worn Duel Monsters card. Yusei smiled and he bent to pick up the discarded treasure.

"Hey, if you can hold cards, you can duel!" Yusei heard. He turned to find another man out, looking for the same kind of treasure among the garbage.

The man was one that Yusei recognized, a member of a rival duel gang from two years ago. He wore a faded karate uniform and removed a football helmet, his own protection against the current environment. The man let his long, lavender mess of hair from the helmet and raised the duel disk with a grin, his thin eyes wide with a challenge.

"Hang on, Nerve. Someone wants a duel." Yusei said, raising his own duel disk.

"Well then, show them who the strongest in Satellite is, Yusei!" The man cheered him on from the other end of the comm.

Yusei pulled off the goggles, blue eyes narrowing as he loosened the scarf so the man could see his face.

"I won't turn down a duel. Let's begin." Yusei said as the two got ready.

"DUEL!"

/

Gally heard the sounds of battle ahead, tensing as her Panzer Kunst was ready to go – even with just one arm. She cleared a mound of the garbage, looking down to see two parties battling it out. One was a man in a blue jacket with red shoulder and elbow pads attached to it, wearing a white scarf, and the other was a man who dressed like a tacky movie samurai. Curiously, they were just staring each other down. Gally saw numbers projected by holograms next to each man, but didn't know what they signified.

The man in samurai garb spoke and Gally saw the other man was calmly listening. What kind of fight was this?

"You like that? Torrential Tribute destroyed your Turret Warrior and your other monsters before you could do anything with them! Even the vaulted Synchro Summon is helpless before it! Will that be all?" The man asked. He was grinning (LP: 800).

"What a powerful trap." The other man said stoically. Gally saw that he was focused, staring ahead with blue eyes that didn't reveal his inner emotions (LP: 500).

"I end my turn." The man with the blue jacket said.

The samurai man smiled. "Then I draw! And play Samurai of the Ice Barrier!"

He played a card of some sort on the gauntlet attached to his arm, and in a burst of light a masked and helmeted man appeared, wearing a suit of ice armor, and wielding a sharp blade (4/1800/0). Gally was taken aback as the man that just appeared had no aura of his own to speak of.

"Now I attack with my Samurai and finish this duel!" The man commanded as the manifestation leaped forwards.

"Trap, activate! Guard Block!" The other man countered as the blade struck his gauntlet. The other man took no damage from the attack as the blade was repelled, the Samurai falling back to his summoner's field.

"Guard Block reduced the damage I'd take to zero and then I can draw a card!" The other man said, pulling a card from a slot on his own gauntlet.

"Ergh! Well in any case, you're on the ropes now!" The samurai man jeered. "Turn end."

"Draw!" The man in blue said, pulling another card from the gauntlet and smiling. "Here it is." He said softly. "I Summon Speed Warrior!" The man said.

Gally felt a sense of shock as a lanky warrior appeared – clad a thick ski visor, grey armor, a padded leather under-suit, and a pair of skates. The warrior looked almost exactly like a Motorball combatant (2/900/400).

"Hmph. That's only got nine-hundred attack points!" The samurai man said with a huff.

"True, but the turn it's normal summoned, its attack points double when it attacks!" The man in blue said. "Furthermore, the equip spell, Junk Attack!"

The raven haired man played another card and his lanky grey warrior glowed in a golden aura.

"Now go, Speed Warrior! Attack Samurai of the Ice Barrier! Sonic Edge!" The man stated, pointing straight at the samurai as Speed Warrior nodded and lept into the air, slamming into the Samurai as his target thrust its sword forwards in a counter.

Then the blade shattered as the Samurai broke apart into fragments of light with a distinct shattering sound.

"But how did your monster survive? It should've been a double KO!" The other man asked.

"Because when Shield Warrior is in my Graveyard, I can remove it from play to protect another monster from being destroyed in battle." The man in blue said.

"Wait! Speed Warrior!? I know that card! Could you be Yusei Fudo of Team Satisfaction?!" The samurai man said in shock, taking a step back.

The 'Yusei' in question nodded, stretching his outstretched palm towards his opponent. "And now you'll take Junk Attack's effect: half of your Samurai's attack points will be subtracted from your life-points."

The samurai duelist grunted as his 'life-points' fell.

"Gah! I didn't know better! If my team fought your team before and lost, what was I thinking?" The man said with a groan (800 → 0).

"Hey, don't worry about it. It was a fun duel. You almost had me." The man named Yusei said.

"Man! I cut you off with my trap before you could Synchro Summon! I thought I'd won after that!" The man admitted. "Well keep that card then. And good luck finding more stuff in these wastes." The man said with a wave before he left to investigate his own junk pile.

/

Gally watched from the top of the scrap pile, seeing the man called Yusei looking at the card as he slid it into a case on his belt containing more cards.

_"That was a serious match between them. I don't know what it is, but they've both got gear to play it and it looks like it's seen a lot of use."_ Gally thought, looking to the device on the man's arm – blue and white with an orange casing around the center of it. The thing looked like a wing of sorts.

As for herself, she grabbed onto part of a refrigerator to stay balanced, but the phantom memory of her foot caught her off-guard again. Gally slipped and heard herself falling as she'd closed her one good eye on the way down. There was a crunching sound as she felt the impact with her face, managing to pull herself up and take an assertive stance, brandishing the Damascus blade.

She looked to her peg leg. Maybe someone here could help with that. She didn't see any cybernetic doctors like Ido around but the right mechanic might at least be able to get her a functioning left foot again.

"Hello?" A voice called.

Gally found the man called Yusei was looking directly at her.


	2. Dreams of Flight

Koros45 doesn't own GUNNM/Battle Angel or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's

Ride 2: Dreams of Flight

"So that's the story." Yusei said when they'd returned to his hide-out. Gally had met Yusei and his friends, the portly Taka, the serious looking man named Nerve and the plucky man named Blitz. Then there was the boy with frizzy red hair and blue patchy dress named Rally who'd arrived late. The group immediately was fascinated by her cyborg body, but at the same time did their best to be hospitable.

Yusei had told her about the creation of Satellite and the ensuing prejudice against the now second class citizens by the City.

"So you're making this machine to escape to the City?" Gally said, her mind thinking of Yugo as she looked to Yusei.

"No. Not to escape. Satellite is my home. I just want to get back what belongs to me. I need that D-Wheel to go there." Yusei said. His eyes showed her that he was serious, and just as determined to do it as Yugo had been.

"Yusei's dream was summoning his Stardust Dragon." Blitz said. "But our former friend Jack stole it AND Yusei's old D-Wheel to escape and become the King of Duelists in the City."

"It might be a one-way trip." Gally said, and Rally gasped.

"No! Yusei will be fine. He just has to duel Jack and then-"Rally stopped, covering his mouth. Gally looked to the boy and smiled. He too, reminded her of someone back home.

"And what about you, robot girl?" The man called Blitz asked, no doubt wanting to change the subject.

"Cyborg." Gally corrected, sitting back in a reclining chair. "As for me, I was found in a place a lot like this. A Cyborg surgeon named Ido found my core and gave me a body and a name, as I had amnesia. Then a lot of stuff happened. I eventually remembered I was a warrior in my past life and got involved in a lot of fights. I thought I died after I killed my enemy, Nova. Yet here I am now."

Yusei crouched next to her, looking at her shoulder where her double had cleaved off her arm.

"I wish I had the technical know-how to fix this. If this was a physics problem I might be able to help, but repairing cyborgs isn't something that our society knows how to do. Maybe if you guided me, I could at least get you a working foot and ankle, but making an entire functioning arm seems a far way goal for people who live down here, even if we had some kind of manual for it."

Gally raised her hair and the group gasped when they saw her exposed eye socket, no doubt revealing more cybernetic parts.

"I'm what some call a total-replacement cyborg. My brain is the only part of me that's still human." Gally said. The group looked at her like she had two heads, save Yusei.

"Well now that you're here, do you need food? And rest? What can we do to help you?" Yusei asked her.

"You would help me? A stranger? From another world most likely?" Gally asked.

Yusei nodded. "In Satellite we're taught to look after each other. We're nothing if we don't have bonds. Not when the City tears us each down individually."

"Well yes, another foot would be nice, but you don't have to prioritize that. If your dream is going to that City, I have no right to get in the way of that dream." Gally said, gesturing with her hand, thoughts of Yugo still in her head.

"But I do need food to keep my brain working." She added quickly.

"Ok, well I'll see if we can't get you a foot of some kind soon." Yusei said.

"And we'll make sure you're eating." Taka said with a big smile, the large man nudging Blitz as the two laughed about something.

"And while they do that, I'll tell you all about it here!" Rally said, looking excited. "There's a lot to learn about Satellite, after all." The boy said as he produced a wrapped but old looking cereal bar for her to eat from his patchy blue dress.

"What about that mark?" Gally asked, pointing to the yellow sign on Rally's face.

Rally's smile immediately stopped as she felt the room's temperature drop. It was something bad.

"That's what's called a Marker. Security marks the people they catch stealing or committing crimes in the area." Yusei said. "Some offenses are minor, but some criminals can be thrown in prison depending on what they do. And what officer makes the call."

"Sounds like a nice bunch of law enforcers to me." Gally said sarcastically.

"Which is why we want to keep you here for now." Yusei said. "At least until you can pass as a human. If the City sees you with that many cyborg parts in plain sight, you'll become some kind of experiment in the City in the best scenario."

Gally nodded and looked around. "Thanks, everyone. I'll do my share when the time comes."

"You don't have to feel like you owe us anything, Gally. I'm sure you're here for a reason." Rally said.

/

"Intriguing." Desty Nova said as he examined the sight of the explosion. "The bomb robot was designed for detonation, not genetic teleportation!" After all – there was no trace of Gally left, not even any debris.

The doctor frowned, the face on his chest struggling to maintain the expression as it hurt – a face wasn't supposed to be affixed to a chest like that, anyways.

Still his instruments weren't wrong. Some kind of dimensional portal had opened. Which was curious. What had caused it? What kind of karma had Gally moved now? Her own? His? Or someone else's? Nova couldn't say and the possibilities fascinated him.

"Gally, if your karma has created a way to another dimension, than this is a new discovery waiting to be viewed through the lens of Karmatron Dynamics!" Nova yelled, sending a signal to the next 'him' that would wake up in a few hours.

Nova realized that the body he was in at the moment wouldn't last very long – the decapitation hadn't killed him, but the loss of blood certainly would. Cloning himself was a slow process, and the clone would unfortunately have no memories of his latest encounter with Gally, - not until he booted up this model's memory chip into his own brain chip - but it didn't matter. He would know what had happened. And he would know how to follow her.


	3. Return to Arms

Ride 3: Return to Arms

The leg worked just fine, to Gally's delight. Her new foot was fashioned from a plastic sandal, covered in a tightly wound black fabric and filled with wiring and pistons so it could move and connect to her leg. Gally had torn away the 'skin' on her shin, pointing out the ports and places that would need new wiring so that Yusei could connect it to her leg properly. It worked, but it wasn't perfect. It made her stick out like a sore thumb even more now, and wouldn't be functional in combat but it was a start.

Now she'd been given a bandage to put around her missing eye, around the rest of her head in an eye-patch/headband combo of sorts – a gift from Rally. Yusei had begun to work on an arm for her but at the moment it was just a mechanical rod with a few bits added on until he could affix an elbow joint to it. He's said it would be harder to make since it would have to directly connect to her shoulder circuits that A-2 had cleaved through, which felt like a week ago for Gally. And on top of that, replicating all the subtle movements of a hand would be a luxury few could afford, even up in the City. It was day four in this new place and so far she found Satellite was less harsh than Scrap-Iron City, but still rough enough to feel like home.

There wasn't much to do when she was inside – which was most of the time. Rally had taught her the fundamentals of 'Duel Monsters', the game that she saw Yusei play when he'd summoned Speed Warrior, but Gally lost interest in it quickly. She'd much rather fight against the various creatures with her own cyborg body than summon her own gaggle of beasts to fight in her place.

"Wait, Gally! If you used Limiter Removal just now, you woulda won!" Rally said, looking surprised as he turned over the set cards she'd placed on the table, overcoming her monsters with his slightly stronger force.

"Er, right. Guess I forgot. You win this time, Rally." The cyborg said, patting the boy on his hat.

"Still it feels less genuine knowing you could've won." Rally said and Gally shook her head.

"It's like that in combat though. Even if you could theoretically have done a different move or attack, you're stuck with how you react at the time. The principles of combat share a few things in common with this game but in a real fight, you don't take turns like this." Gally said.

"Right. You were a Hunter-Warrior, right?" The boy asked, remembering bits of her story.

Gally nodded. "That's right. Where I come from, there's no Security, so it fell on Hunter Warriors to do their job."

Rally glared, putting a hand over his marker. "I wish that we didn't have Security here!"

Gally smiled. "Well how about this? I'll go out with you tomorrow and if they give you any trouble, I'll beat the snot out of them?" She proposed, clenching her good fist.

"Eeeh! No! If you do that, they'll definitely want to catch you!" Rally said.

The cyborg exhaled. "Drat. I just hate being cooped up like this is all. It stinks."

"Hang on!" Rally said, disappearing into the closet of endless hand-me-downs and emerging with a purple hoody and black baggy sweatpants.

"If you cover up your exposed cyborg parts in these, you can go outside!" Rally said and Gally blinked. "And sorry about the smell – we have limited water and not a lot of candles or air freshener." He added as Gally pulled on the clothes, needing his help to finish the job as it was more difficult with just one arm and the new leg.

"Just don't beat up Security, right?" She asked and Rally giggled.

/

They found Yusei as he was returning from the Scrap-Yard, the Duelist carrying a spotless engine strapped on his back.

"Gally. You feel well enough to go out then?" He asked, looking at how she'd be able to pass for human now.

She nodded. "With Rally's help I can be inconspicuous."

He gave her a brief smile and kept walking, answering any questions that Rally might have about the engine.

Then they all froze as the ricochet of a bullet was heard.

"Get down!" Gally yelled, tackling the pair into the gravel. She knew it would hurt, but it was preferable to getting a bullet in the back.

She had to kick herself for thinking guns were outlawed here – it wasn't Scrap-Iron City after all – but still, from what she understood, Duel Monsters was the medium people used to settle disputes here. Using firearms meant they must seriously be targeting one of them.

Gally turned to see her attacker and was stunned. Not some assailant holding a firearm at all. Rather, it looked like a modified Motorball player, a visible cybernetic spine and reinforced rib cage and head bolted into a far larger cyborg body. The handiwork was clear – this was one of Nova's creations, never-mind the how or why. The cyborg had a gun barrel built into its palm, steadying the arm to prepare another shot. Gally narrowed her eye and lept to the side, rebounding off of a garbage pile to gain momentum as the cyborg fired and missed. She thrust the Damascus Blade forward with as much momentum as she could muster, slamming into the cyborg's chest and penetrating his core.

The cyborg laughed in her face, his heavy eyebrow contrasted with the false green and round lenses inset into his head, clammy skin contorting with each sound he made. It was a false core. Nova would definitely do something like that if he was still alive.

Then the gun arm was still a threat. Gally let go of the blade and pivoted so that she could grip the very end of the blade, wrapping her legs around the gun arm and twisting it until she heard a definite snap.

The cyborg roared now and managed to swat her away with his free arm. She landed on her back and he looked down at her, ready to strike. Still, it was outmatched even in her damaged state. Gally skidded back on her good foot and then moved straight at him, leaping towards the Damascus Blade and grasping the end of it once again.

This time she aimed to rotate it, putting her bad leg on the head of the weapon and pushing it straight down, splitting the Cyborg's chest open with the rotating blade and immediately shoving her fist straight through the new opening. Then the Cyborg's expression changed to a calm one and it stopped struggling as it stood dumbly while she clung on to it.

"I knew it was a matter of time before you'd show up, Gally, so I brought a welcome wagon." An excited and slightly malicious voice said. A monitor turned on right next to where her fist had embedded itself, revealing Professor Nova, reclining in a fancy chair and eating his signature flan.

"Nova!" Gally said in surprise, removing her fist and rotating her body before slamming a knee into the cyborg's face. Its big hands shuddered as he fell into the ground and the whole place shook.

"Gally, I want to know why you're here. What has fate decided to do with you here? It's a mystery even for my Karmatron Dynamics." The scientist said as he took a bite of his flan. The cracked screen annoyed Gally as she wanted to do the same to him.

Gally glared as Nova chewed the stuff audibly from wherever he was on the screen. "And what about you?! How did you follow me here? And how did you survive?" She asked, the questions piling up.

"Cloning, my dear. And the jump you made left a trail for me to follow. Gally, I don't want to be your enemy in this world. The cyborg here was just bait to draw you out. I see that your body has been damaged from your last adventures, and I want to replace it." Nova stated, giving her a serious frown.

"Why?" Gally asked him. Trusting him was beyond her capabilities at the moment – the wounds he'd dealt to Ido still too fresh in her head despite happening a long time ago now. And he'd just sent a killer cyborg after her and her new friends as well.

"Because you are a catalyst! An influencing presence that causes waves of Karma where you go! Even now you're altering these people's destiny just by existing here!" Nova said passionately, gesturing with his flan spoon like a music conductor. Gesturing to a powerful cyborg frame beside him. Lacking a head or any core unit for that matter. It looked to be made just for her.

Gally turned and looked to Yusei and Rally, both of whom were still huddled on the ground, Yusei shielding Rally with his body in case the cyborg would move again.

"A new body would let me fight at full power, but I don't trust you." She spoke to Nova.

"I don't expect you to! I'm merely here to observe what you do in this world – and see if you have the key to get back to our own!" Nova responded with a chuckle.

"Currently I'm at a place called the B.A.D. area. Though the name's a bit much, I'd like to meet you there soon if possible. And do bring a new friend! I want to know more about this place" Nova waved to her and the screen winked out.

"What was that?" Yusei asked as she helped him up. He took his turn to help up Rally and they both looked at her.

"That was a grunt sent by Professor Nova. Like I said, he's one of my enemies – and how I got here." Gally said, closing her eye.

"Oh, by the way!" A prerecorded message from the cyborg body yelled, "This body is going to undergo cellular combustion in about a minute! Can't have the natives in this dump trying to make their own cyborgs, now can we?" Nova asked.

The three hurried now. Yusei gave Rally the engine to carry while he grabbed her Damascus Blade in his hands and carried Gally on his back – her leg wasn't made for long distance running. Gally was impressed at the speed of the two, getting far away enough that the detonation was a small red cloud in the distance.

/

"Is meeting him safe?" Yusei asked, though it sounded rhetorical.

"No, but I need to see him. At worst we'll at least know what he wants and at best I can kill him again." Gally said matter-of-factually as she held onto his chest.

Yusei nodded and looked to the engine that Rally was holding.

"If you're lucky, I can have the D-Wheel working by tomorrow. We can see this 'Nova' person then." Yusei said.

"You're awfully quick to trust me with this." Gally said, wondering what Yusei wanted out of this.

"Well if he stays here, what will happen? If he can make monsters like that one we just saw, Security won't deal with them until they become the City's problem. And you're the only person equipped to deal with them." He said.

"Yeah!" Rally said, pumping a fist. "Gally's stronger than I thought! We have nothing to worry about if she's around!"

"But Rally, stay with the others. If I can get the D-Wheel working then I'm going to go with just Gally. This Nova fellow is dangerous." Yusei said and Rally nodded.

"Then I'll wish you the best of luck! Go Yusei!" Rally said, blinking as he looked to Gally. "And go Gally!"

The two of them chuckled at the boy's energy and he gave them both a hug before running off somewhere else in the hideout.

Yusei looked down to the engine and the red frame of the D-Wheel. "Now it just needs the chip and it will reach the speeds I'm looking for." Yusei said out loud before looking up to Gally. "But for our purposes, installing the engine as-is should be fine."

He stayed up all night, but by the time the sun arose, the D-Wheel was finished, a proud gleaming red with white accents.

"Impressive. So let's go." Gally said as Yusei returned from a test lap.

"Right." Yusei said, entering the coordinates to the B.A.D. area.


	4. Riding Duel

Ride 4: Riding Duel 

Gally was shorter than Yusei by a few inches and she was grateful for her size as she clung to his back while he drove them through the fog. His D-Wheel, which Rally had named the 'Yusei-Go' was working well.

They'd driven for about half-an hour now and Gally noticed something white and spotless – a work desk placed in the middle of the wastes, a half-finished bridge hanging in the background, like an arm grasping at the City, trying to reach it despite the distance between the two.

As the D-Wheel got closer, Gally could see the man himself smirking, the inset silver-white goggles in his face gleaming. Desty Nova himself. Beside him stood the same headless cyborg body, just the right shape for Gally's head to sit atop of.

"That's him?" Yusei asked.

"Yeah." Gally responded. "Let me talk to him." She said as Yusei stopped the new D-Wheel.

"Welcome Gally! And her new friend! It only took about twelve hours, but here you both are! We may yet see something good come out of B.A.D. after all!" Nova said, laughing hysterically at his own joke for a few seconds as Gally dismounted off of the machine and took a few steps towards him.

"As you can see, I have the Imaginos body right here! It's even stronger than your old Berserker body!" Nova said, pointing to the shimmering frame of lean cyborg muscle standing at attention even though it lacked a head of its own.

"Nova. What's your condition for me getting that body?" Gally asked.

Nova looked up. "Oh, I don't know. Tell me why the City doesn't like this place? Just kidding! Kya-ha-ha! How about the condition that you don't attack or try to kill me after this point?" Nova asked her, raising a finger to the sky like he was posing a difficult question.

Gally sighed. At this moment having a functional body definitely outweighed laying a finger on the impish professor.

She pulled the Damascus Blade from its holster on her back, tossing it with her one arm into the center of Nova's workspace, blade first.

"Yeek!" Nova yelled as he scooted away from the desk.

"Fine. Here's my sword and I won't attack you. Now keep my friends out of this." She said, taking a step towards him.

"You have my word that I won't touch them." Nova replied.

Gally turned to Yusei. "It should take about twenty minutes for my head to sync up to the body, so be careful. He's dangerous, so keep your distance." She said and the stoic man nodded.

She approached Nova and he pushed a button on the desk. A frame made of metal tube segments sprang up, a blade on the end of it.

"A TUNED body, huh?" Nova asked and chuckled. "Ironic considering the circumstances."

"Just get this over with." Gally said.

Nova smiled. "As you wish."

With a slash, the blade separated Gally's head and core from her body, Nova neatly catching the connected parts. He placed her head and core near the neck of the Imaginos body as cables and tubes automatically extended it, folding out with the chest to consume the exposed internals of Gally's core. Then the neck closed around the robotic spine, connecting Gally's head to it. Her good eye was closed and Nova opened it, shining a light in it.

Gally could hear Yusei yell out her name – no doubt surprised by Nova's methods. Then it all went dark, yet she felt some components of the new body begin to connect with her core. Then there was a light and she could hear again, though she couldn't move around in the body quite yet.

"Ah, we can see, can we? That's good!" Nova's voice said. "Now hold on – the Imaginos body should be able to grow you a new eye once you're synced to it properly." As he said that, Nova picked up the Damascus Blade from the desk, stabbing it into the abdomen of the Imaginos and pressing a switch on his deck. The blade melted and flowed inside of the body's abdomen, sealing the wound as if it had never been there.

"As for him, I would leave this man be, but you see, a man who saw the cyborg I'd brought with me left this device behind, and I wanted to test it out. I see this man has one as well" Nova said, pointing to Yusei's red D-wheel and, pushing a button on his desk.

A panel flipped over, revealing a Duel Disk with a deck already shuffled into it. Gally's eye was wide from the initial shock of the incision and she could only watch as the Imaginos body's connection sequence was keeping her occupied at the moment.

"Now I modified this desk to use these 'Speed Spells' the man I met was going on about he met my mindless cyborg puppet." Nova said, turning to Yusei. "Perhaps you could educate me on this 'Duel Monsters' with a first-hand Riding Duel?"

He gave Yusei a smile and the other man kept his same stoic gaze.

"That's all you want? A Riding Duel?" Yusei asked.

Nova nodded. "I'm curious to see the way people in this world settle things – it seems much more orderly than smashing someone's brains in with a cyborg arm!" As Nova said that, his goggles grew a white mesh around the back of his head, hardening into a white plastic helmet that covered his curly white hair.

Next the work desk warped as the man's nanomachines converted it from a stationary desk to a white trapezoid shaped D-Wheel.

"Fine then. I need to give this machine a trial run in any case. We'll have a Riding Duel while Gally's connecting to that new body!" Yusei said, activating his machine and throwing his crimson helmet upon his head.

"Riding Duel, Acceleration!" Yusei yelled out as the duel began. The Yusei-Go took off, Nova following at a slower speed.

TURN 1: YUSEI: 4000, NOVA: 4000, SPC: 0 / 0

"My turn! Draw!" Yusei yelled as he pulled a card from his duel disk.

He looked at his hand and tisked. "I'll set three cards face-down and end my turn!" Yusei said as the turn was passed over to Nova.

TURN 2: YUSEI: 4000, NOVA: 4000, SPC: 1 / 1

"Alright then! I draw. Let's begin the experiment!" Nova said, pulling a card gently from the top of his deck.

I'll begin with what I'm studying at the moment! A Speed Spell!" Nova said, playing the card. "Count-Up!"

"And I'll discard three cards to get six Speed Counters!" Nova said. He placed three cards into his Graveyard – Cyber Demon, Cyber Ogre, and Cybertech Wyvern – as he sped past Yusei's D-Wheel (SPC: 1 → 7).

"Just two cards left in your hand – what are you planning, Nova?" Yusei asked, looking ahead to the mad scientist's back.

"Hmph! You'll find out!" The man said, his white lab coat flapping in the wind.

"Now I'll use Overboost to get even more speed – but at the End Phase, my Speed Counters will be reduced to a mere one!" Nova said, playing the card as his speed was now maxed out on the first turn. He yelped as his lips blew back from the increasing speed, flying far ahead of Yusei with the effect of the spell card.

"Twelve already!? The maximum speed!?" Yusei said out loud, impressed at Nova's use of Speed Spells in his first Riding Duel.

"And now I'll call on this card – Cybernetic Cyclops!" Nova cried.

In front of Nova, a green skinned cyclops appeared, its singular eye covered in a metallic visor. The monster let out a roar and screamed to the heavens as it spread two arms – wrists outfitted in silver gauntlets that matched with a mechanical chest plate (4/1400/200).

"And next I'll play this Speed Spell – Accel Draw! If I have twelve Speed Counters, I can draw twice!" Nova said as he did so.

"But I'm not quite done! Now I play this card – Speed Energy! This will give my Cyclops two-hundred more attack points per Speed Counter! And since I have twelve, which means he'll be at thirty-eight hundred attack points!" Nova finished. 

His Cyclops glowed in a green aura as it powered up from the spell (4/1400 → 3800/200).

"And then I'll set my last card face-down and conduct a hypothesis! If I attack you directly, I'll win!" Nova said.

"But I'll still have two-hundred life-points remaining." Yusei said.

"Kyahaha! Look again at my creature!" Nova said, pointing to his Cyclops, who let out a roar, flexing at it powered up once again (4/3800 → 4800/200).

"Over four-thousand attack points." Yusei observed, his eyes wide at Nova's aggressive increase in attack points.

"Indeed. If I have no cards in my hand, my Cyclops gains one-thousand attack points!" Nova explained.

"Now I proceed to battle! And to the attack! End the experiment!" Nova said with a gesture.

Cybernetic Cyclops leapt into the air, landing ahead of the crimson D-Wheel and slamming it's claws down. The monster roared as something struck it's helmeted head, knocking the hologram backwards – the active trap card having struck the monster – and then Yusei ran straight through the hologram, the cyclops flailing about as he did so.

"Trap card – Iron Resolve!" Yusei said as the card faded from his field. "I pay half of my life-points but in exchange, I take no damage for the rest of this turn!" He explained as his points were cut in half (4000 → 2000).

Nova slumped, exhaling in disappointment. "A trap card? I didn't expect that in a battle of speed."

"But in this game, speed isn't the only variable." Yusei said. "Even with no monsters, I did my best to keep my field fortified. Now you may have that Cyclops, but other than that you'll just have one set card on your field. And in addition, your Speed Counters will drop to one at the End Phase."

"Hmph. Perhaps it's my own karma, being so hasty to win at this game. So my hypothesis was incorrect it seems." Nova remarked. "Well then boy, on with it! I end my turn!"

As Nova declared that, his Cyclops stood back up and lumbered back to Nova's workstation, slumping over as it's attack points fell from Speed Energy wearing off (4/4800 → 2400/200).

Then Nova's speed drastically fell as Overboost wore off as well (SPC: 12 → 1). Nova gasped as the loss of speed made him lurch forwards in surprise as Yusei moved gradually ahead of him.

TURN 3: YUSEI: 2000, NOVA: 4000, SPC: 2 / 1

"It's my turn!" Yusei said as he drew his next card.

Gally felt something click as the Imaginos body finished connecting. She felt phantom pain from so much of her body being replaced, but knew it would pass at some point. She processed the game ahead of her, unsure of what would happen now. Then her eye started hurting and she remembered that this body being as advanced as it was might have a self-recovery function. She felt Nova's nanomachines growing tissue in the eye socket as the mass squirmed around slightly making her want to itch it. Yet she couldn't move yet as the body was still connecting to her core. Gally kept her vision on the red bike that zoomed past in another lap.

"My turn!" Yusei said, drawing. Now he had four cards in his hand.

"First I'll set this!" Yusei said as a fourth set card appeared on his field.

"I'll use this card! The Speed Spell – High Speed Crash!" One of Yusei's set cards revealed itself as the Speed Spell he'd mentioned. "This lets me destroy a card on my field and one of yours, so I'll destroy this!" Yusei said, gesturing to the card he'd just set and pointed to Nova's own set card.

The cards shattered, Yusei's Limiter Overload and Nova's Dimension Wall, and then Speed Warrior appeared beside Yusei (2/900/400), skating alongside the crimson D-Wheel.

"And when my Limiter Overload trap card is destroyed, I can summon out Speed Warrior from my hand, deck, or Graveyard!" Yusei explained.

"Hmph! That's all? A malnourished Motorball player?" Nova asked.

"Not quite. This time, I'm not done! Next I summon this! The tuner monster – Junk Synchron!" Yusei declared, playing another card.

Ahead of him, a diminutive and orange robot appeared, with an engine on its back and large eyes giving Nova a glare (3/1300/500).

"A Tuner? And a Motorball player? Please tell me this is a joke." Nova said, looking away from his cards to take a bite of his flan, taking advantage of the decrease in speed to risk it.

"I'm not done." Yusei said, waving out an arm. "I'm now tuning my Speed Warrior with my Junk Synchron!"

As Yusei said the word 'Tuning', Nova looked up from his meal.

Junk Synchron broke apart into three emerald rings, flying into the sky and circling around Speed Warrior until they aligned in a parallel fashion. Then Speed Warrior leapt into the rings, his body fading away – replaced by an orange outline as two stars could be seen in his body.

_"Clustering stars call on a new force!"_ Yusei chanted.

The orange framework faded and the twin stars aligned with the three rings, forming a pattern.

_"Become the path its light shines upon!" _

The formation of rings and stars flew higher into the air as Yusei spoke.

_"Synchro Summon!"  
_  
Then as he uttered those words, a green pillar of light split the sky, piercing through both the rings and stars in a parallel line. The edge of his helmet and visor glowed green from the brilliant reflection.

_"Appear now, Junk Warrior!"  
_  
The light faded away – a bulky purple monster in its place. Junk Warrior as the name suggested was a fighter built from scrap, a larger right arm clenching studded knuckles and a smaller left arm's fingers hanging open as it soared through the air on faded white jet wings. Its legs had large skates on each foot and its small rounded white head was covered with a purple shell on the sides and back, and red goggles on the front. Finally an engine similar to Junk Synchron's was on the creature's back and it had a white scarf that billowed in the wind. Junk Warrior stuck out its larger fist as lighting crackled off of it (5/2300/1300).

"Interesting! So that was your plan!'" Nova said, leaning forwards to look at the new monster.

"And now, we battle! Junk Warrior, attack Cybernetic Cyclops!" Yusei yelled, waving back an arm for emphasis.

Junk Warrior grunted, its engine igniting as it flew towards the Cyclops, larger fist drawn back in a punch.

"And then here's a trap – Synchro Strike!" Yusei yelled, revealing the card, ironically showing his current monster and the monster's he'd used to create it.

"Synchro Strike will give Junk Warrior five-hundred attack points per monster I used to Synchro Summon it with until the end of the turn!" Yusei explained as Junk Warrior's eyes glowed, it's attack power rising (5/2300 → 3300/1300).

"Scrap Fist!" Yusei yelled as Junk Warrior boosted around in a loop and threw its best fist forwards at Nova's monster.

The fist slammed into the Cyclops and it shattered with a shriek. Nova frowned as he took some of the damage (4000 → 3100).

"And now my final trap – Synchro Over-limit!" Yusei said, waving back an arm as the card in question revealed itself.

"This card will let a Synchro monster that attacked get a second attack, but it's destroyed at the end of the turn! Now attack him again, Junk Warrior!" Yusei yelled as his monster flew directly at Nova, striking him with a holographic fist.

Nova sighed as the attack didn't physically damage him, but it did affect the duel (3100 → 0).

"Hmph. Not bad." Nova said as Junk Warrior faded away, his own D-Wheel stopping before Nova converted it into a plastic white work desk once again as his helmet faded away, leaving only his goggles behind. Then Yusei stopped the D-Wheel and pulled off his helmet, walking towards Nova with confidence.

"Now keep your word! Is Gally safe?" He asked, glancing over to the Imaginos body she was now a part of – standing perfectly still.

"Oh she'll be just fine." Nova said with a frown, sliding his Graveyard back into the Duel Disk and pressing a button, flipping it back under the workstation.

Gally grunted as the eye finished growing and she had to blink for a moment before she could see clearly out of it.

"That was interesting. That Junk Warrior of yours looks like it would be a tough opponent in a game of Motorball or otherwise." Gally said with a smile.

"Motorball?" Yusei asked and Nova smiled mischievously.

"Don't encourage the man with an even more ridiculous sport than this Riding Duel. Though I can see that he'd be a promising candidate if he had a cyborg body of his own."

Gally sighed. "Don't even think about it, Nova." She looked down to where her old body lay, surprised as the Damascus blade was now gone.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I used the blade's rigidity to re-enforce your body while you were synchronizing up to it. It's a part of you now." Nova said.

Gally frowned and her eye twitched at the news. "What gave you the right!?" She yelled, slamming a fist into the workstation and leaving a sizable dent in it.

"Easy, easy! You can conjure it from your own body in time with enough will power! That body is designed for feats like that!" Nova said, raising his hands in peace and stepping away.

He was quickly disappointed as Yusei picked him up by his collar and glared at him.

"You turned an innocent person into a cyborg and then attacked Gally and my friend with it. And then you think we'll just let you go?" he asked, still keeping a cool exterior despite what he was doing.

"Hmph! Fine then! Hit me! Run me over with that motorcycle if you wish! My restorer robots will just bring me right back!" Nova said.

Gally looked to Yusei. "I did give him my word I wouldn't hurt him."

Yusei dropped him and Nova tisked, patting his own back. "Treating an old man like this! I thought that you had some measure of respect!"

"That's a two-way street, right?" Yusei asked and Nova grunted in distaste.

"By the way Nova, how are we here?" Gally asked.

The scientist stopped sulking and pushed a button on his desk, revealing a projector screen.

"As you can see, this is the universe that we come from." Nova said, showing a blue model of a star system.

"And this one is the one we're in now." Nova said as a red one appeared next to it.

"Karmatron Dynamics refers to an infinite number of possibilities depending on how one reacts to one's own karma. Now look here." Nova said, zooming in the model to show a small area where the two universes intersected, both overlapping areas a bright purple.

"This is how you managed to pass through, Gally." Nova said. "You fell into a dimensional overlap – just as my bomb was set to explode. I studied the machinery left there by the Nova you decapitated days ago and found that it was a possibility, no matter how slim or impossible it seemed. Probability can often work in ways like that for those such as yourself, Gally. Those who conquer their own karma tend to gravitate to things sort of things."

"I still don't understand the most of it." Gally said, crossing her new arms. "Even if that's true for me, how were you able to follow me?"

Nova chuckled. "Easy. The other Nova left notes on the kind of signatures he picked up from the dimensional rift. And this dimension's barrier was pretty pliable – it's my guess some major time or dimensional travel will occur on a larger scale here at a later date."

On hearing this, Yusei's face was disbelief. "Time travel?"

"That's right, boy! You're going to be a big catalyst of it! At least that's what my instruments tell me!" Nova said, bringing up a holographic chart full of variables that Yusei didn't understand. Yusei looked at him in confusion.

"That's not for you to tell him, Nova. Now, can we leave? I want to see Figure. And Lou. And Ido." Gally said, counting on her new fingers and giving Nova a grim look.

"Not quite, Gally!" Nova said with a grin. "You see, this dimension's power source is something I don't understand quite yet called Momentum. I'll need to harness that and apply it to my studies if I want to take us back to our home dimension." The scientist finished. Then he clapped his hands and the work desk he'd set up dissolved into a swarm of nanobots, flying up into the atmosphere. From the interior of the desk fell the duel disk. Nova grabbed the device and fit it on his arm.

"Hmm, it's clunky." The man said, feeling the heft of it. "In any case I wanted to join you to the Imaginos body as soon as possible – we'll have the highest chance of survival here if you're in your strongest body yet!" Nova said.

Gally looked at the old core of the TUNED body. "You're sure it's not overkill? And that one, are we just leaving it here?" She asked him.

"Oh no. I wouldn't say it's overkill if we don't know what things exist in this dimension just yet. And as for your old body, I figured you could incinerate it with your new body's control of plasma." Nova said and Gally frowned.

"That was my old body for ten years! I'm not just about to cremate it like that!" She protested.

"Hmph. Fine then. Be sentimental about it." Nova said, waving his hand and breaking the materials of the TUNED body down with more nanobots.

"There. This bots will inject your Imaginos body with the material from your TUNED body if you need a quick repair. Does that work for you?"

Gally frowned but still nodded to Nova. Then she looked to Yusei. "I'm going to go with him. He's too dangerous to be left here doing whatever he wants." The cyborg said and Yusei nodded back to her in agreement.

"Where are you going to travel then?" Yusei asked.

Nova scratched his head of curly white hair. "Well anywhere that can make Momentum, feasibly." The man said. "But the City seems like it would have the best materials for my work."

Yusei narrowed his eyes. "Be careful leaving Satellite. Security is very careful on who they let in."

Nova smiled. "Boy, I assure you that we will be fine! One way or another! Kyahah-" He was cut off as Gally created a plasma jet from her finger, heating it up enough to startle the scientist.

"We'll be careful, Yusei. And good luck with your own dream." Gally said to him. "Make sure it doesn't give you tunnel vision. Some peaks are too high, even for the most idealistic people." She said as she ceased the plasma jet and watched the trail of smoke linger in the air.

Yusei nodded and extended his fist. A warrior's salute. Gally smiled and returned the gesture, the two of them bumping fists before they went their separate ways.


	5. Angel of Roses

Ride 5: Angel of Roses 

"You want me to do what?" Gally asked, staring down at Nova with disbelief.

They were on the way to the City, Nova's nanobots fashioning a broken down and obsolete D-Wheel into a makeshift motorcycle, with Gally driving the white craft as Nova sat in the sidecar, eating his flan.

"Find the thing driving that man's Karma." Nova repeated. "What did you say it was? That "Stardust Dragon" you mentioned the other man stole? I want to analyze it."

"What does one playing card have to do with anything?" Gally asked, squinting as she maneuvered through a tight opening in the crowded street. It was mid-day and they'd been driving since morning.

"Really now, I'd imagine you'd want to know. There's more to these things here in this world than just effects and card statistics." Nova said. "Here they are the catalysts of change and the way of combat – much like your own Panzer Kunst is for you in our world."

"But what makes this Stardust Dragon so special?" Gally asked, raising an eye at the card art that Nova projected on the visor of her purple helmet.

"For one, it's one of a kind. And for two, it was stolen by the current champion of the City, so it's obviously tied to the karma-" he was cut off as Gally swerved the D-Wheel in the already tight line, causing Nova to yelp as some of his flan spilled from the craft. "-Hey!" he yelled.

"If you say "Karma" one more time I swear I'm going to disconnect this side-car. Then you'll see just what your own resulted in." Gally stated bluntly.

"Hmph. And you wanted to know why it was so special. Anyway, it also belonged to that Yusei, so that means his own personal – bonds – are attached to it, as are those of this 'Jack Atlus' person." Nova pouted and looked to the cracked streets.

"In any rate, we'll have to get to the City by way of alternate transport. There's a garbage chute that could get us their but the chances of getting through that are slim. I vote we use fake identification to get through." Nova said, pressing a button and displaying two fake ID's on the inside of her visor.

"Hey! Driving! Warn me about that next time!" Gally said, steeling herself as she saw past the projections to focus on what she was doing. At the moment they were going towards a Security station, to see how hard it would be to travel to the City.

It took some doing, but with the right connections and a black tank top, pants, and a beige trench coat, Gally managed to pass as a regular person. Nova's eccentric behavior was more difficult to hide, but the absence of Markers on their faces meant that they could still make a ferry to the City. Gally looked to her fake I.D. , the name 'Alita 'Gally' Yoko' next to her own face, staring at herself with large eyes. Gally took the time to hide the silver streaks that the Imaginos body produced from her neck to her cheeks – they could be mistaken as Markers.

And Nova simply remained himself, with a false record of working for an MIDS before some natural disaster cut the project's funding and further research.

They'd arrived and the getting off point was busy in mid-day, all kinds of people flocking to them to ask if they needed a new duel disk, a D-Wheel, a guide, or any other services.

Gally sighed and flashed her ID as a broad-chinned Security guard looked at the ID and then her face, scanning it with a beep and letting her pass.

Gally and Nova walked ahead once Nova had gotten his luggage cleared (Gally made sure he didn't bring any brains with him) and they heard sounds of a duel up ahead.

"Skull Flame, attack!" A man in black leather and sunglasses with an orange goatee and fire-red hair declared, directing the monster to attack his opponent.

Skull Flame in question was a tall shaman, with flowing robes and flames trailing off of his form. With a blazing uppercut, Skull Flame burned through his opponent's monster – a blue-armored warrior carrying a trident. The damage was conducting and the man in black laughed as he'd won the match.

"That's right! Nobody can beat Enjou Mukuro! I'll be facing Jack Atlus in two days, and then I'll be the King!" Mukuro said with a long laugh.

The man's opponent slinked away and the people in the area were all lined up for the winner's autograph.

"Something's wrong here." Gally said, pausing as the very air felt sick to her.

"Ah, detecting something with the Imaginos body, now are we?" Nova asked.

Gally shook her head. "No. This just feels wrong. Like something's going to happen here." She said, looking around the cracked streets in the mid-day sun. The lazy day was about to become frantic. She could practically sense the malicious intent that was coming their way.

Suddenly gusts tore through the area as dark red rose petals started to blow through the air. The petals carved whole chunks out of the streets and Gally heard people screaming as they ran away.

"The witch is here!"

"The Black Rose Witch! Let's get out of here!"

Enjou Mukuro was the first to leave, jumping on a motorcycle of his own and flooring it, leaving his adoring public in the dust. Meanwhile Gally heard screams as two duelists who dared challenge this witch were blown backwards by invisible winds, falling on their backs, their life-points hitting zero instantly. The impacts – the damage they'd taken – they looked real to Gally.

The cyborg narrowed her eyes as the source of the petals was a woman clad in a dark robe with a sinister hood, wearing a white mask that covered her whole face – only showing red locks of hair that revealed themselves over the top of the mask.

This witch walked forward at a brisk pace while everyone in the area took cover.

_"If you wanted a time to test what that new body of yours can do, now would be it."_ Gally heard Nova's voice say in a speaker she'd switched on in her head.

"Nova, get back." Gally started to say, but then realized that the man was already gone.

"Learn your place!" The witch said in a cold voice, pulling out a white card from a magenta and red duel disk of her own.

From a huge pillar of purple, a tall dragon appeared, black and thorny with two large wings of red rose petals, protruding from a central group of red petal-like scales around the dragon's chest. It was wyvern-like in appearance, with a long body, stumpy arms and legs barely visible from the petals that guarded the dragon's body. It had a red mane of sorts, made from rose petals, and savage yellow eyes inset into pink looked around the area for its first victim (7/2400/1800).

The dragon let out a roar and Gally sized it up. Comparing it to her enemies, it was bigger than Makaku and Zapan, but smaller than Den. With her Imaginos body, she should be fine even if it dwarfed her by size alone.

The dragon announced itself with a thorny black whip protruding from under its wing, speeding towards Gally. The cyborg was quick to act, somersaulting to the side and leaping away as the whip stuck where she previously was, puncturing through the hard ground.

"What are you doing out here?" Gally yelled to the witch.

"Fast, aren't you?! Black Rose Dragon, again!" The person yelled, extending out a black glove from the folds of her robes to point at Gally with.

The dragon roared and re-doubled its efforts, sending multiple vines this time. From the impact the first one caused, Gally could guess that it was no hologram. She didn't have time to question why, only that this was an enemy in front of her that demanded her attention.

Three vines, all targeting where she was, and her immediate left and right. So it could plan ahead with its attacks. Gally hid a smile on her face and leapt back as far as she could, flipping up to perch on top of a nearby food stand.

Then she heard three thuds as the tendrils bored into the ground, sending up clouds of dust.

"You're not a duelist." The masked witch remarked, gesturing for the dragon to attack again. Gally decided to go on the offensive this time, leaping down to dash as fast as she could. Gally was faster than she gave the Imaginos body credit, turning her sprint towards the dragon into a front flip that ended with a double kick to the dragon's neck. She felt a big impact and a yell of pain from the witch as her blow connected, the dragon recoiling and staggering backwards.

Gally followed up propelling herself away from the dragon with a lighter, second kick to push off of her target, doing a three-point landing in the pavement to look at her handiwork with a grin.

The dragon was writhing, eyes wide now as the focused solely on her. And further back, the witch was shaking.

"You – hurt Black Rose Dragon!" She exclaimed like it was an uncommon occurrence.

"Yeah, and if you keep up this tantrum I might hurt you too!" Gally said, pointing at the woman as she threw off the tattered trench coat, letting the witch see what she really was as she clenched the coat in a hand.

"What are you?!" The witch yelled.

"I'm a cyborg, but if you're the Black Rose Witch, then call me the Killing Angel! Now it's your turn to show your true self to me! Take off that mask and stop hiding at the world!" Gally yelled, pointing at her with a metal finger.

"Don't lecture me with your words! Black Rose Flare!" The woman cried out, raising up an arm, returning the point to Gally.

With that, the dragon of hers' opened up its mouth, firing out a stream of purple and black energy from it. Gally saw the attack and moved as fast as she could, feeling the beam's impact as it shook the entire area. The blast wasn't done yet, and Gally feverishly ran into another leap as the beam tore through the food stand she'd been perching on just a moment ago, reducing it to burning and broken floorboards amidst a dusty crater.

The dragon was like a turret in a ways, tall and with legs planted to the ground while the long neck gave it lots of room to fire off the attack with and few blind spots to exploit.

It would make attacking it up close a difficult task.

Gally found herself grinning at the challenge as the dragon readied itself for another attack.

Her fingers ignited in a plasma jet as the steeled herself for another go around with the creature.

This time the ground erupted and the dragon's tendrils burst from the ground, forcing Gally to move. She leapt over the initial tentacles, slicing a pair in half with her plasma attack, but soon found the dragon's mouth was moving towards her, trying to bite her in half.

Gally's arm found the dragon's snout and pulled up, using the momentum from the dragon's attack to flip over its head and onto its mane of roses down its neck. Gally ran down the monster's back and leapt again, over the monster's tail and lunging at the witch with her hand that was holding her coat and wasn't currently burning with plasma.

The witch yelped and was sent flying from Gally's punch, falling to the ground. Her robe's hood fell, revealing more magenta hair but the white mask stayed on. Gally knew the dragon would attack as fast as possible, and she ran towards the witch to prevent the dragon from using whatever the blast from its mouth was.

The witch recovered, getting on her feet quickly and Gally acted, trying to disable the duel disk on the woman's arm with her plasma fingers. Just a little closer and she'd be able to sever the part holding the dragon card and the main body of the disk.

Then there was a flash and she felt herself ram straight into a crimson barrier. Gally was knocked back from the sudden impact and registered that the woman's arm was glowing crimson, projecting a bubble around the witch, preventing Gally's potentially fatal attack from hitting her.

_"What's that!? And what just happened?"_ Gally thought as the bubble shimmered with a distinct ringing sound.

"Wretched Mark!-" The woman said, sounding surprised as she looked down at it briefly before she looked back at Gally. "Kill her, Black Rose Dragon!" The woman yelled and the dragon roared again, tendrils at the ready.

_"Gally! You don't like it, but retreat!" _Nova's voice yelled in her ear. The cyborg grimaced but had to agree. At the moment she had no way of assessing the witch's abilities and wasn't about to commit murder just to satisfy her own craving for battle. Not on this world at least.

Gally punched the ground, sending up a cloud of dust from the shockwave from her Panzer Kunst technique – the Hertza Heion.

"Nova! Where are you?" Gally yelled as she ran from the battle, the rampaging dragon and the witch who commanded it lost in the dust.

_"Easy! Further in the City! Just get out of there in one piece and then meet me by this bizarre statue!" _Nova yelled. For him to call something bizarre it must be strange.

Gally ran as fast as she could, letting the witch resume her swath of destruction. She had to remind herself that getting too involved in the happenings of this world could have consequences.

/

Gally found Nova by a large golden carving of a boy with large spiky hair. It was even stranger than Yusei's horn like segments. This was like a star shaped base with lightning bolt bangs. The boy was smiling with confidence, his eyes narrowed in a permanent gaze.

Gally caught her breath and looked around, grateful no one noticed her cyborg body yet as she shrugged her coat back on under the shadow of the statue.

"That monster I just fought was called Black Rose Dragon. If that witch was able to make it's attacks that strong, do you think-" Gally began.

"Yes. This confirms without a shadow of doubt that these dragons are important to the flow of power dynamics in this world." Nova said, avoiding using the word 'karma' for the time being.

"So what's your plan?" Gally asked and Nova grinned. "Easy. There's a tournament coming up and I'd love to go behind the scenes to see what I can learn about Momentum. Meanwhile you can be our lovely Killing Angel again! Just think of it this way: Riding Duels should give you quite the nostalgia for Motorball!" Nova exclaimed and Gally sighed.

"I really don't want to duel. I'd much rather fight something. Why don't we both go behind the scenes during this tournament?" Gally asked, not trusting leaving the man on his own if she could help it.

"Hmph! Well I suppose we'll have to compromise at some point!" Nova grumbled.

Gally tapped her foot. "Just make a plan with achievable goals. Then we'll achieve them. I really don't care about the details as long as we can go home without trying to detonate anyone this time."

Nova got the hint and adjusted his goggles. "Right. For now let's just focus on this 'Stardust Dragon' and how we can acquire it. And we'll look at Momentum energy and how it can be applied outside of making this disks and D-wheels function. That will be the basis for our return."

Gally could agree to that. "Good, now let's get something to eat." She said, dragging Nova behind her towards a coffee shop as he struggled with his luggage. "Who knows? Maybe they'll have flan!" Gally exclaimed in mock excitement.


	6. Champion's Shadow

Ride 6: Champion's Shadow 

Jack Atlus was not amused by Godwin's proposal, even as the Duel of Fortune Cup was advertised as a chance for him to have his decisive rematch with Yusei. Jack let his fingers hit the armrest of the couch he was reclining on as he heard Godwin's words and wondered how much they were really worth.

At the moment, Director Godwin was out visiting the Facility that Yusei had been thrown in, his duel with Jack interrupted by that 'Crimson Dragon' that Godwin spoke of. The intricacies of the matter regarding 'Signers' and the Nazca Lines didn't matter to Jack as the King sipped his coffee.

He didn't just want the rematch – he craved it. Godwin's connections would most likely get Yusei out of prison, but he didn't feel right just waiting around for Yusei to challenge him for Stardust again. No, the duel they'd had in the stadium days earlier was enough proof that Yusei had earned back his ace card, and it wasn't something Jack needed anymore.

His duel with Enjou Mukuro had ended in a victory for him, but he'd felt weak – false even. Yusei's un-televised victory was a blow to his confidence – rumors that Godwin had been rigging his matches had fallen on deaf ears in the past, but now they were more doubts for Jack to deal with. Losing to someone from Satellite. Losing from Yusei. A man who hadn't likely replaced a single card in his own deck since Jack had left him in the dust. It wasn't just humbling. It felt like it threw his whole life up-side down.

He stood up and exhaled, picking up the now empty mug and taking it to the sink for someone to wash. It wasn't his job but at the moment he preferred that to just feeling sorry for himself. Then Jack heard an alarm blare from somewhere in the building. He dropped the cup in the sink and turned, wondering what was wrong.

/ 

Vice-Director Jeager was having a relatively good day. The Satellite man's friends had been rounded up and most of the contestants for the Duel of Fortune Cup were arriving soon. With luck, it would be a quiet day in the spacious and air-conditioned building once he returned. The clown man chuckled as he ran his hand through his light purple coif of hair and went through the plan that Director Godwin had set in motion. At the moment he was away from the main worksite, gathering letters to send out to the girl Ruka – one of the chosen candidates that Godwin believed was a Signer.

Jeager had delivered the invitation and was on his way back. Then he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Though he appeared as a clown, the Vice-Director was skilled in stealth and reconnaissance gathering – needed traits for his old life – and was stunned something caught him by surprise so suddenly.

It was a young woman with big brown eyes in a beige overcoat covering a black shirt and baggy pants. She landed on her feet like a cat and started intently at Jeager, a big bob of hair on her head.

"Could you be the Vice-Director." She said, tilting her head to the side in curiosity, her large dark hair swaying with the motion.

Jeager was confused at the woman's sudden appearance. He'd been trained to deal with the common rabble and no one should've been able to sneak up on him.

"W-who are you!?" Jeager managed to squeak out.

"Easy. I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to see if I can't get into the tournament." The woman said, staring at him like he was her prey.

"Too late for that. The Duel of Fortune Cup's members have already been selected." Jeager said. "You have to had known about it."

"So I can't take anyone's place?" The woman asked, looking a bit disappointed.

"No, but why ask me of all people? You couldn't visit a local registration booth instead?" The clown man asked.

"I figured asking the top brass was the most direct approach. I'm new here and didn't have time to fill out all the paperwork they threw in my face." The girl said.

Jeager frowned, bringing up his personal holo-screen, scanning the girl's face and finding her Identification. "Hmm, Alita Yoko, hmm?" He asked, looking from the card's image back to her face.

"And why would we honor such a request?" Jeager asked.

The woman smiled, her cute and innocent appearance shifting into the expression of a hunter. "Because I have a bargain to make."

/

"Mikage, what's the alarm for!" Jack yelled, walking into his receptionist's office in his jeans and black muscle shirt.

"Atlus-Sama!" Mikage said, deeply bowing to him. "There's some kind of hacking that breached our firewall, but it seems to be a glitch." She said, moving back to look at her computer. "After all, Godwin has an impeccable security network. No one should be able to hack this."

Jack nodded. "Then why is the alarm still going off?"

"Ah. Well even though we've determined it's a harmless glitch, the system still doesn't know that yet. We just need to wait for it to stop."

She looked at Jack with fascinated eyes, the same eyes the majority of the public looked to him with. Like Jack Atlus was some godly figure gracing their presence. To Jack, that look had become one he'd started to dislike.

At first Jack basked in the treatment. But now after his unofficial loss against Yusei, he questioned all of it. The women that threw themselves at him, the kids that wanted autographs. And of course the company sponsorships. Now it just irritated him, like he was just some popular brand name rather than an actual person.

"Who's that?" Jack asked, pointing to a recording showing the chief scientist under Godwin's payroll – Professor Akutsu, arguing with an older man wearing distinct half crescent goggles and a goofy grin on his face.

Mikage pushed a few buttons, and then stood up, pressing a button to call an escort of Security to the place while she walked to meet them. "Atlus – Sama, please stay here. This is a Security matter."

Jack sighed and sat across from the desk while she left to collect the strange man. It was a few minutes of sitting there, staring awkwardly of the picture of himself she had on her deck. He stood up to turn it away as the preened and picture perfect Jack Atlus was far from the real deal, who had someone else to wash out his coffee mug for him.

"Kya-haha! I swear I'm not here to do anything wrong!" The man proclaimed, all while laughing as Mikage and two tall and suited men walked him down the hall, an angry Professor Akutsu pursuing them.

"Hey! He's with the old staff of MIDS! Don't just drag him away, I want to learn from him! The breakthroughs they made in Momentum research were legendary!" The brown haired and orange glasses wearing scientist yelled as he followed.

The professor shot ahead of them, standing by the older man that the two Security officers were restraining. Jack looked to the old man and got a bad vibe from him.

"See! I have the documentation to prove it, Ma'am! Gentlemen!" The mystery man said frantically.

"Did you send that virus?" Mikage asked and the man shook his head. "I don't know what that was supposed to be, but I assure you if I HAD made such a program it would be perfec-"

"Professor Nova!" Akutsu yelled, cutting off the man's statement. "I will vouch for you! Now let's see his documentation."

"See, no need to drag me away." Nova said, grumbling as the two Security guards took a step back. He pulled out an ID and shoved it in Mikage's face. "Is that enough for you?" The old man said.

Mikage stopped for a second. "Yes, Director?" She said, as Godwin had contacted her personally it seemed. She looked angry and ashamed at herself.

"I see you just returned to Neo-Domino City. I apologize for my – directness." Mikage said, taking a step back and giving him a bow.

"No, no dear. I'm sure you're just doing your job. Now, where can I go to register properly as a member of the Momentum development?" The crazy looking man asked.

"Well luckily for you, Professor Nova, Professor Akutsu can show you the ropes. Do you mind, Professor?" Mikage asked the proud and awkward looking scientist.

"Of course not! Now let's look at our main reactor and you can tell me what you think! All about MO-O-O-O-OMENTUM!" The man yelled enthusiastically, spinning around before leading Nova away from the Security guards.

Jack frowned and stood up. If Godwin was free to contact Mikage like that, then he'd have finished his business at the facility. Jack looked to the deflated looking Mikage, knowing what would cheer her up might also be a way for him to make good on his challenge to his rival.

The door automatically shut, four panels sliding together as the scientists and the guards separately left the premise.

"Mikage, I have a favor to ask." Jack said. "Can you use our marker tracer system to locate Yusei Fudo?"

/ 

Gally grinned as Jeager led her to the mansion personally. It was about what she'd imagined the sky-city above the scrap-yard back home to be. Full of money and a bunch of idiots who didn't know how to spend it while the people they'd ignored suffered. The clown man sighed as he led her into the premises and looked her over. They were in a high rise mansion rich enough to be on the top of a huge skyscraper. The place even had a garden growing on the top of that.

"No weapons, but we have to be careful, especially if your contact was with MIDS." Jeager said as she was approached by a guard who padded her down for anything suspicious.

"If that's a metal detector, it's going to go off. I have some metal fillings." Gally said, hoping the white lie would hide the fact that she wasn't a flesh-and-blood human.

"She's not carrying anything, boss. But she'd got prosthetics all over her." The security officer said, looking confused.

"Well so long as she'd not armed." Jeager said and Gally wanted to laugh.

"In any case, I'll see what the Director thinks when he sees you in person." The clown said to her.

He sat down and looked at her, the man's face less strange and scary now that he let himself relax. "You're free to look around, just know you'll be monitored. I certainly don't want to have to follow you around the place." Jeager said.

Gally stood and with that, left to see just what she could find out. 

/ 

"Professor Nova." The voice cut through Akutsu's excited chatter and physical movement whenever he mentioned the potential applications of Momentum, Rex Godwin immediately shutting down their conversation as the grey-suited man walked into the room with a smile that Nova knew was just for pleasantries.

"Ah yes, Mr. Godwin." Nova said. "I see you're here in person. How considerate of you to let me stay here."

"No, I'm more curious why someone from another place entirely is so interested in our Momentum applications." Godwin said, staring at Nova's goggles intently as though they were the man's own eyes.

"AH, so you were keeping tabs on me the whole time I was here!?" Nova said, looking startled.

"Not entirely. Though we did see what you did to take that man's Duel Disk away. And the attack on Mr. Fudo and your own current colleague. As for lying about MIDS, you're unfortunately looking at a man who used to work there himself. And you may answer for your crimes if you don't answer my next questions." Godwin said.

"I thought the City didn't care about anyone from that Satellite wasteland." Nova said. "My mistake. I thought getting rid of him was doing you a favor." He said without shame.

"Hmph. Well we care when it gives us . . . leverage. Now, first question." Godwin said. "Are you working for the Arcadia Movement?" He asked.

"Never heard of them." Nova said scratching the inside of his ear. "And I should warn you – blackmail won't work on me."

"Very well then. Second, are you familiar with the terms 'Signer'?" The man asked and Nova shook his head again. Godwin frowned. "The Crimson Dragon?" He asked and Nova smiled, shaking his head another time.

"And why are you so invested in this 'Duel of Fortune Cup' tournament of mine that you came directly here, uploaded a false alarm to our systems, sent a personal contact to find Jeager, and on top of all that, lied about working with the most prestigious Momentum research division to ever exist?" Godwin asked.

Behind his goggles, Nova blinked. That must have touched a nerve. From Nova's mannerisms, Akutsu looked like he wanted to piss himself.

Nave grinned. "That one's easy!" He said, sticking up his index finger. "But to answer it, I need to ask you a question, Director." Nova said, as though the title was a mere formality, grinning as he said his next words.

"Do you believe in Karma?"

/ 

Jack returned from the trip, having handed back Stardust to his former friend. Things felt a little more interesting now – that Yusei could actively use the dragon he'd found while in Satellite in the tournament. It would be the first time it had seen play since Jack last called it to use against Yusei as a way to prove that he could do so. And now it would make things more even. Not that Jack ever needed Stardust when Red Demon's was always at his side.

Jack parked the Wheel of Fortune and walked into the private suite. He was ready retire to his room to look at the line-up for the Fortune Cup, wondering who Yusei's first opponent would be.

His path was blocked as a girl a good foot shorter than him looked up to him, glaring at him. She looked like a vagabond, with a beige trench coat and big piercing eyes that reminded him of his rival's own cold glare.

"Jack Atlus!" She yelled and Jack wondered if he'd ever met her – he certainly didn't remember doing such a thing.

"Can I help you?" Jack asked.

"Stardust Dragon. Where is it?" The woman questioned. Jack's eyes widened. Only a select few people knew Jack had taken Stardust with him -after all he'd never used it in any of his public matches.

Jack smirked. "I don't know how you knew about that, but I got rid of it! I returned it back to it's former owner just today!" He said proudly.

"Wait. How!? Yusei is still in Satellite!" She said, looking confused.

"Well I don't know how you know of him, but your information is out of date! He's in the City now." Jack said. "I returned Stardust to him about half an hour ago."

The woman sighed and her anger ebbed. "Still. You took away his dream. How do you rationalize that?"

"I didn't need to rationalize anything. I did what I had to to get here. Stardust was one of the things I needed as a Passport here." Jack said. "But now that I'm here, Yusei can have it back. Now if you'll excuse me, I-"

Jack yelped as the woman swept her foot into the back of his shins, slamming her palm into his chest.

He landed on his back and she was right there, holding a palm to his neck. Jack was surprised at her strength. It was inhuman – yet it seemed like she had barely moved.

"Answer the question, or so help me." The woman said. "How do you rationalize something like that?!"

Jack's eyes narrowed as his fingers grabbed her wrist and began to squeeze, trying to pry her off.

"Like I said, I did what I had to! Yusei has to have understood that!" Jack said, fighting her own grip as he tried to knee her away, to no avail. She wasn't just stronger – but also far sturdier than she looked. 

/ 

Gally wasn't sure where the anger came from. Was it because this blonde man had followed Yugo's path and made something of himself once he reached his own Zalem, never stopping to think about where he'd come from? Or was it that he'd spoken about his former friend like their ties meant nothing? Whatever the case was, she was now feeling his fingers trying to pry hers' free – she could in theory kill this man with little effort. Yet she found a pride in his gaze and a soul of a warrior behind the man's ego and fame. And Yusei still wanted to settle things with him.

Gally removed her hand from his neck and she stood up, letting him squeeze until he tired out his hands.

"Finished?" Gally asked and Jack removed his fingers, moving around each one to see if they were working properly. "What the hell are you?" Jack asked. "Are you a Signer?"

Gally shook her head. "I don't' know what that is. But my name's Gally." She said, pulling back the sleeve of her coat to reveal her cybernetic arm. "And I'm not like a normal person, as you might've guessed."

Jack nodded, unsure of how to proceed as he stood back up – wary that Security would arrive if they saw the King in any kind of altercation. "And you met Yusei, how?"

"We met in Satellite." Gally said. "I'm surprised you returned Stardust Dragon to him. And I want to know why you did it in the first place – becoming the King?"

"That role was offered to me." Jack said. "I have no future in Satellite. I already lost one friend to his own stupidity there and I don't mind losing another if it lets me stay here in this City."

"Do you ever miss it?" Gally asked him.

"Yes. But the City is the future of this world." Jack said to her. "I would be foolish to vanquish such an opportunity over a few friends."

"You think so?" Gally asked.

Then Jack stopped. "Hold on, it's the Director." he said, answering a vibrating electronic device. "It's Jack. What is it, Godwin?"

Then Jack's eyes widened and he looked at Gally. "Come with me. Godwin wants both of us to see him."


	7. Angel and Demon

Ride 7: Angel and Demon

"Come now, this should be easy to do! Why haven't you found a way to weaponize Solid Vision yet?" Nova asked as Professor Akutsu looked at him with surprise.

"Why would we ever need to do that, Director?" The man asked, putting a hand to his chin, the hum of the Momentum Reactor audible as he thought about it.

"Oh come now! A woman walks among you who can do that with just her mind! She makes the effects of cards she plays real!" Nova said, spreading out his hands. "And there's not even any research done on arriving at that same result?" He asked and the other Professor shook his head.

"That's too unethical, Professor Nova." Akutsu said and Nova laughed for a long time. "Unethical-! Tell that to the people who died in that – oh what did you name it again? - Zero Reverse?" Nova finished.

The other Professor was quiet, still believing that Nova used to work on the staff of that division. Nova supposed he'd gotten lucky putting such a blatant lie on his ID. All the witnesses to say he didn't work there were dead.

"Unethical?" Nova repeated. "Well what about entertaining? Imagine having to avoid the attacks of monsters, even if you still could survive with life-points? It would certainly make for a greater spectacle."

Akutsu frowned and shrugged. "Riding Duels are entertaining enough without the constant threat of death – besides there are enough crash junkies out there without this added flair."

Nova smiled. "Well this here might just change your tune, Professor."

"In any case, everyone is now here." Godwin said, gesturing with an arm as Gally and Jack walked in the room, looking to Godwin and Nova.

"I wondered why you went out of your way to contact both Jeager and made your way in here, but now I see why, Professor Nova." Godwin said, gesturing to Gally.

"If any of the City's bureaucrats found her, she'd be a lab experiment." Godwin said and Gally coughed. He didn't know how right he was based on her personal history.

"Right. And Momentum can provide us a way home – providing you let us use it." Nova said.

Godwin smiled, closing his eyes. "Jeager mentioned an offer. Now tell me what, pray tell, could you offer us?"

/

Jack frowned as a module was attached to his Duel Disk. "I don't like this." He said and Godwin smiled looking down from an observation booth.

"Well at the very least it will give us a chance to combat The Arcadia Movement if it comes to that." Godwin said and Jack exhaled.

"Dueling has always been a ritual between two souls! Turning it into a mere weapon cheapens it's purpose!" Jack responded, mounting the Wheel of Fortune and rocketing out into the empty stadium.

"Yes, but in this day and age, you can't be too careful. Professor Nova has a point – this tournament may not gather all the Signers together as I desire." Godwin said. "And with the threats the Signers are supposed to combat returning, it may be needed for that purpose."

"More than just the Arcadia Movement then I assume." Jack said and kicked the engine into overdrive to drown out Godwin's idealistic vision. For now he could at least enjoy the struggle that would occur now, saving the ethical debate that would no doubt ensue for the politicians to deal with.

"Ready when you are, Gally!" Jack yelled.

"On your right, Jack!" Gally yelled, wearing a purple helmet with an open comm to Jack's D-Wheel's monitor as her body skated down the tracks. The Imaginos body let her change the structure of her feet into motorized skates not unlike ones that her old Motorball body had, and the shell of her cyborg body into a harder purple plating in the event of a crash.

The cyborg skated next to Jack and the man smiled. "Are you sure you want to face my full power?" he asked, looking down at her from his ridiculous circular and single-wheeled bike.

"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" Gally grinned, hoping she didn't look too eager to kick whatever monster Jack summoned to a pulp.

Then the two were off, shooting down the track. The battle began as Jack boosted ahead and drew a card, giving him six.

"Very well! We begin! I discard my Dark Resonator for Power Giant!" Jack said.

In front of him, a bulky creature made of square blocks appeared, irregular translucent rocks growing out of it's kneecaps and shoulders It towered over Gally as it hovered about a foot off the track, slowly moving behind Jack (6 → 3/2200/0).

"Now I set this and we'll have ourselves a battle! Show me how you do things in your world!" Jack yelled as a set card appeared on his field. He still wasn't used to the lack of a turn system in this simulation but he wanted to see what Gally would do now.

She looked up at Power Giant and grinned, turning to skate up the slanted translucent edge of the D-Wheel track, ramping off of it and into the air.

Power Giant slowly turned, but by the time it was looking at her, she'd struck, kicking it in the head and conjuring a Damascus Blade from her elbow and using the weapon to slash at the rock monster's chest. She didn't expect it to do much damage – and she was right about that – but it gave her leverage as the blade stuck and she punched with her other hand, making an audible crack in the monster's chest.

"That's it, Gally!" Nova's voice cried out in her helmet comm as she struck it again, twisting her fist to widen the hole and igniting her plasma fingers inside of it.

Power Giant roared and exploded, shattering into light from the attack.

"You got anything faster than that?" Gally asked and Jack looked to his hand, frowning as he'd lost some life-points (4000 → 3700).

"How about multiple opponents?" He declared. "To me, Mad Demon! Vice Berserker! And Medium Piece Golem!"

Jack played three monsters from his hand– bypassing the normal rules of the game to do so as two fiendish creatures, Mad Demon (4/1800/0), Vice Berserker (4/1000/1000) and another, smaller and more basic looking rock monster, Medium Piece Golem (4/1600/0) appeared in front of Jack.

"Now attack en masse!" Jack yelled, holding out his hand.

Gally could see it now. When he was on the D-Wheel, as ridiculous as it was, he was in control. The TV star persona was still there, but the core of Jack's character – a solitary fighter who knew he was strong – was now the one she faced. She could see the shadow of Jashugan in Jacks' gaze – now far from that distant image of a Yugo running away from a broken town – but a champion who knew he was destined for great things.

Mad Demon was first to attack, chewing up a skull in the center of it's body with it's fanged stomach and spitting a stream of bones at her from it's chest region. Gally could outmaneuver them easily enough, but Vice Berserker and Medium Piece Golem were ready for her. Still, with her experiences in the Motorball champions' league, this was a cakewalk. She veered to the right, the bones missing entirely as Jack's Berserker approached. She spun around, reversing the traction of her skates to punch it in the face, shattering apart the lanky fiend.

Next was Medium Piece Golem, the Rock monster leaping in front of her and headbutting her. It was dense enough to hurt even with her helmet on. Gally yelled and spun, using the Damascus Blade she'd used to attack Power Giant to cleave the smaller rock beast in half, the halves falling on the track before they shattered. Jack grimaced as he took a bit more damage (3700 → 2800).

Then more shards of bone came her way. Gally grimaced and sped up, trying to get free enough to attack Mad Demon at close range when something large, white, and circular slammed into her side. She yelled and fell down on the track, rolling on her side a few times to recover and get back on her feet, regaining momentum. When she looked up, she was shocked. Jack was driving on very edge of the canopy, driving upside-down and backwards as he laughed down at her.

"In this game, I'm not just a king that observes his pawns! I'm one who leads them in the field of battle to make sure they are victorious!" Jack said with a smirk, extending out a hand of his white riding suit.

Gally chuckled, impressed that he himself had attacked her despite his human limitations. "incredible. That D-Wheel of yours is designed for something like that. But now that you've attacked me yourself, will you be upset if I return the favor?" She asked.

"No! Come at me with full force, if you can!" Jack said theatrically as he turned around instantly, sloping back down the track until his wheel was on the ground once again. It was practically a seamless movement – Jack had mastered such a machine to the highest level that was possible for him, it seemed.

"Bear your fangs at the King!" He challenged as Gally followed.

"Alright then!" Gally said, racing down the slope herself and building up speed.

"Now I'll use this trap card – Powerful Rebirth!" Jack suddenly declared as a white blast of energy appeared beside him. "Revive, Dark Resonator!" The King declared. Then a small robed imp carrying a mallet and tuning fork appeared beside him and her, giggling as Jack's trap powered it up (3 → 4/1300 → 1400/300 → 400).

"Something like that won't stand a chance against my Panzer Kunst!" Gally said with a yell, leaping from the track and grabbed onto Dark Resonator, stabbing it with her Damascus blade and spinning around to slam it into the ground and off of her sword as her momentum carried her back on the track. The imp simply chuckled and then vanished into four rings of light that flew by Gally as Jack held out a white card.

"It won't need to stand a chance if I do this!" Jack yelled and then began to chant.

_"The Ruler's Heartbeats will now file through here! Bear witness to a power which will shake all of creation!"_

_"Oh no!" _

Gally thought, her large eyes widening. _"The same kind of Summon as Yusei's Junk Warrior!?"_Gally grit her teeth as she increased her velocity, drifting from one edge of the track's half-pipe ring to the other, trying to gain enough momentum to attack Jack directly and disable his craft with a well-timed stab.  
_  
_She almost made it, four green stars from the fading body of Mad Demon flying past her to intersect through the four tuning rings.

_"Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Demon's Dragon!"_ Jack yelled, as his two monsters on the field vanished.

A pillar of green shot past her, almost bowling her over, and Gally backed down as the colossal dragon appeared from the summon with a roar. It's bulky black hide was accented with a crimson pattern on it's chest, and the same crimson on the underside of it's neck, tail, and limbs. It flew on two strong black wings with red membrane on the inside and roared, the three yellow-white horns resembling a demonic crown of sorts as it looked to her with narrow yellow eyes. (8/3000/2000).

"Now feel Red Demon's crimson-iron blow! Absolute Power Force!" Jack roared, spinning his craft again so he could see his monster attack while he accelerated, and swinging his hand back for emphasis.

The fist of Red Demon's ignited in a blazing swath, the dragon slamming it down upon the track. Being much smaller than the creature, Gally had no choice but to dodge. She evaded the fist but the shockwave was another thing all together – an explosion that sent her reeling. Gally recovered enough to re-focus on Jack, ensuring she'd have a window to plan another attack.

"Keep her on her feet, Red Demons!" Jack commanded, still driving backwards and now upside-down again as his gaze taunted her. "Scorching Crimson Hell Flare!"

Fire built up in the monster's mouth and Gally wanted to complain at how versatile the creature she was fighting was. A spiral of fire blasted out of it's mouth and she had to skate on the lip of the ring again, finding herself eye level with Jack as she avoided the flames by using the momentum she'd built up to stick to the top of the track.

Then she realized that sooner or later, she'd have to fight the dragon itself to even touch Jack. The red and black creature was nothing if not devoted to it's master – placing itself in between Jack and herself. Gally leapt off the lip of the arena, soaring through the air with a yell and slashing through the membrane of a wing. She ended up landing behind the dragon and skating away from Jack's path as she had gotten the monsters' attention. It roared in pain and anger from her strike, causing it to lose some balance as it corrected it's flight pattern.

"Not finished yet, Red Demon's! _Demon Meteor_!" Jack yelled.

Gally cursed. "How many attacks does that damn thing have!?"

The next was as described, a meteor that the dragon summoned just by pointing it's clawed hand towards her, a small burning rock falling from the sky to where she was skating. This time Gally stopped and cut her speed completely and reversing the traction of her wheels, letting the attack hit where she would be if she'd still been accelerating forwards, dust and debris flying from the impact.

Then she was in the clear. Gally focused everything into her skates again moving forwards, avoiding more fire from the dragon's mouth as she built up momentum, then she spun around and readied her fist. The dragon was close, and at the moment attacking it head-on was the best strategy – if she could beat this monster, she was certain she would win.

_**"Absolute Power Force!"**_ Jack yelled a second time.

_**"Herzta Heion!"**_Gally countered as Red Demon's burning fist connected with her own vibrating fist charged with plasma.

The resulting explosion from the colliding forces sent her flying, her right arm blown clean off from the elbow up as she crashed against the outer barrier of the track, grunting as her helmet helped cancel most of the impact. As for Red Demon's the dragon recoiled a chipped and smoking fist, burned and twisted fingers completely caved in and warped from the cyborg's punch.

The dragon roared in both pain and pride as it was still able to stay upright and Gally heard Nova's voice on the other end of her intercom.

"Gally, that's a lot of power for the device to process. I didn't design this system to deal with monsters of this size. We'll have to stop the demonstration for now." Nova said.

Gally exhaled in disappointment she couldn't continue the fight with such a creature, but also with the smallest tinge of relief. Considering the last run-in with a dragon she'd had, Gally didn't want to take her chances if things could get this dicey from a friendly match.

"A splendid match. Now I hope the two of you understand each others' power. The two of you performed excellently. Now let's return before either of you inflict any permanent damage on the other." Godwin's voice said.

Jack looked disappointed as well, but complied and stopped his D-Wheel in front of Gally as she stood up. Then the injured Red Demon's Dragon vanished as Jack removed the card from his Duel Disk.

"I didn't see it at first, but now I can see how you're called the King." Gally admitted to him with a smile. "I hope Yusei wins the main tournament so I can see your rematch." She said as she stood up and Jack frowned.

"Yusei will face me again. I didn't give him Stardust Dragon just so he'd lose to some nobody." The blond man said. "Now do we need to recover your arm?" He asked, glancing to the charred limb smoking in the middle of the wrecked track.

/

The healing process was more painless than Gally thought as Nova injected her with the restorer robots he'd had in reserve, the charred and broken arm re-configuring with the rest of her body as the Imaginos did most of the work. Gally sat beside Jack, the two of them relaxing from the earlier bout while the ground crew did their best to repair the stadium for the tournament.

"Now that Yusei has Stardust Dragon again, what reason would he have to stay in the City?" Gally asked.

Jack scoffed. "He and I both want a rematch." Jack said, taking a sip of his coffee. "And what about you? Why so much interest in the City? And in my dead friendship with Yusei?" Jack asked her.

"Well it's a similar situation to the place I came from back home." Gally said. "A big power gap between the rich and poor. And a close friend who wanted to go to a city in the clouds. He never made it, but you and Yusei both did. I want to see what you both choose to do with that dream now that you're here."

"Hmph! Didn't I already make my choice?" Jack asked, exhaling.

"Well earlier today, you chose to return Yusei's card. I think that may have gone a further distance than you realize." Gally said with a grin, thinking of Rally and the rest of Yusei's friends when they talked about seeing him summon the card.

"And what about Yusei? What do you think he'll do now that he's in the City?" Jack asked.

Gally shrugged. "I don't know. I don't see him as the kind of person to turn away from his friends. But at the same time he wants to settle things with you. He'll give it all he has when the time comes. And even if this tournament didn't happen, you'd still want to settle things with him. This Fortune Cup is just a way for you and Godwin to both get what you want."

Jack frowned. "Godwin's planning something." The man pulled back his sleeve to reveal a red mark on his right arm, resembling a pair of wings. "And I'm part of it somehow."

Gally blinked at the mark. "What's that?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. It's a birthmark I've had my whole life. But now it's acting strange. When I dueled Yusei last, this mark started glowing. And so did Yusei's."

"He's got one of those too?" Gally asked. Jack nodded.

"Godwin thinks we're some kind of ancient warriors that get reincarnated every five-thousand years. I don't really see why that's so important, but that's why he's hosting this tournament." Jack said.

Gally frowned. "Who's all going to be at this tournament?" She asked.

Jack pressed a button and behind her, a number of contestant appeared, Yusei among them.  
"So out of these people Godwin wants to gather the rest of these 'Signers'? " Gally asked. Jack nodded.

Gally smiled. "Then if I can't compete in the tournament myself, I'll do something else. I have an idea." She said, looking at Nova who looked back with a nervous look on his face.


	8. Angel's Charity

Ride 8: Angel's Charity

The Duel of Fortune Cup had been going for a whole day and Gally had made herself busy. For starters, there was a contestant she wanted to speak to. Gally found Yusei Fudo with Ruka, a teal haired girl wearing a red shirt with gold embroidery. They were about to leave the tournament when Gally ran up to them.

"Yusei!" She yelled, making sure he saw her.

"Gally!" Yusei said, looking surprised but still glad to see her. They exchanged a fistbump and he looked to Ruka.

"Ruka and her brother have been nice enough to let me stay in their place while I'm in the City." Yusei said and the girl nodded.

"Nice to meet you!" Gally said, extending her hand for a handshake. Ruka looked a little confused seeing Gally's mechanical arm, but nevertheless gave her a handshake and a hopeful smile.

"Yusei, I see you got a marker." Gally said, wishing she'd been with him to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Yusei nodded. "Yeah, the City carved it into me once they caught me trespassing. Thankfully Godwin pulled some strings to get me out, even if I'm participating in this tournament now." He said, then he looked to her.

"And you're doing well. Keeping Professor Nova in line?" He asked.

Gally shrugged. "Yeah. As much as I can at any rate."

Then she stopped. "Can I look at Stardust Dragon?" The cyborg asked.

Yusei frowned. "It's valuable to me. Not here."

Ruka smiled. "Well how about you come with us, Gally? We can make you a hamburger while we wait for Rua to come home."

Gally looked up at the sky. It was getting dark. But she didn't have anything pressing at the moment and no one to report to. The time away from all the schemes would be nice. "Alright then, I'll tag along. I could use a good meal." She said.

Gally crouched, covering her legs with her coat as she shifted her feet into skates again, standing and balancing on one foot to show them off – her choice of appearance made them look like shoes over a skintight outfit.

"This time I don't need to ride with you, Yusei!" Gally said with a grin.

"Alright then, you'll see how fast I go with my complete D-Wheel." Yusei returned with a smile.

The three of them departed for Ruka's place, Gally in awe of the Tops – the rich and more well-off area of the City as she skated behind Yusei's red D-Wheel. It was a brisk night and the cool air felt good on her face and in her hair. She stopped when Yusei arrived at the gate of Ruka's place and joined the others to take the elevator. She made sure to morph her feet again as she liked to keep her balance.

He showed her his Stardust Dragon card once they sat down inside Ruka's place and she admired how shiny the thing was. "Do you think you'll use it in the match against Bommer?" Gally asked.

Yusei shook his head. "I'm saving it for Jack. That's why he gave it back to me." The man said.

Gally shook her head. "It might have been his way of saying sorry, you know?"

Yusei blinked. "You might be right. Jack's prideful. I don't think he'd apologize to you even if he wanted to."

"Nova wanted to look at this card." Gally said, tilting it in the light. "But it's not right to ask that of you." She said, returning it.

Yusei smiled. "If you just need a picture or to scan it, that's no problem. I just want to have Stardust on me from this point on."

"Really?" Gally asked and Yusei nodded solemnly.

Gally squinted at the chip, scanning it and sending it to Nova using the line in her head – the man no doubt scanning it himself as he frowned in concentration.

"Well it's certainly a catalyst but to what, I can't say." Nova said through the comm. "Thank you, Mr. Fudo. Gally. Now excuse me, I'm working." he said, killing the channel as Gally returned the card, smiling as Nova had finally used a respectful term to the man.

"Though I wonder, if Jack had just asked me for Stardust up front – would I have let him have it to get a better life?" Yusei asked rhetorically, putting Stardust Dragon away.

Then they ate and Yusei explained his current situation.

"Godwin kidnapped my friends and are holding them hostage somewhere in Satellite. I have a friend who is looking for them now, but Godwin's forcing me to stay in the tournament if I want to see them again." Yusei said quietly while Ruka was using the bathroom.

"And does Jack know about that?" Gally asked.

Yusei shook his head. "I don't think so. Tomorrow will really tell us what happens."

Gally looked to him and was all business. "Yusei, if Godwin's manipulating you to stay in this tournament, chances are he's pulling everyone's strings in some way."

Yusei frowned but nodded.

"And what about Nova?" Yusei asked and Gally refrained from finishing off her hamburger to answer.

"He's working on a way home, but I can only wonder how he'll manage it. Considering he practically killed me, I don't know what I'll do once we get home."

"Well here he has to trust you, right?" Yusei asked as Ruka sat down with them. "I mean he's out of his element here. He can't just clone himself again in this world. Using nanobots to restore his body will only go so far here." Yusei said, as Gally had explained the details to him.

"I suppose." Gally said and then Ruka looked to the empty seat by them. "This hamburger is Rua's favorite. I can't help but feel that he's lost or worse, and it will be late soon." She said and Yusei stood up.

"Then let's go looking for him." The man proposed.

/

Nova was fascinated on the bulky and silver D-Wheel the moment he'd seen it in the garage and he had to get a closer look. The man was in luck once the muscular contestant left his garage, carrying a teal-haired boy over his shoulder. So far Godwin wasn't budging on letting his research continue on grounds of ethics and that kind of micromanaging really wasn't something Nova was used to dealing with at all.

It seemed he would have to work on a side project to blow off some steam. He went over to the colossal machine and wondered how it would be enhanced if it were in his own world.

"Bommer, what kind of karma do you have, I wonder?" Nova thought as he tinkered with the D-Wheel's CPU, adding in some extra programs he'd used ages ago on his old Motorball patient Jashugan. Bommer had left with the boy and he'd be gone for the foreseeable future. Nova grinned as he labored over the machine, wondering what he'd see from it tomorrow if things went sideways.

/

Rua was found not by any of them, but by Yusei's next opponent, a tall South American man named Bommer, dark skinned and muscular with long black hair that accentuated his tall frame. The man was friendly and talked with Yusei in person while Gally carried the sleeping boy home in her arms, skating on the highway while Ruka clung to her neck and back. Gally kept an even pace so both kids would be safe. Once she'd arrived, Gally let Ruka get off and took the twins upstairs before she left.

"Tell Yusei good luck with the rest of the tournament. Jack's going to be a tough opponent." Gally said to Ruka as she set Rua on the couch. "I have to go back to Godwin's place. There's some snooping around I need to do before the night's over." Ruka gave her a smile and a good luck of her own, then Gally was off.

/

Finding the next thing after Stardust Dragon would be more difficult, as Godwin was nothing if not careful. The man seemed almost untouchable despite being a normal person as appearances would suggest.

Gally decided then, to prepare more thoroughly. Godwin's staff had given her a room and she walked in, finding Nova had left his duel disk on her bed. Gally thumbed through the deck , snorting as one of the monsters was a 'Cyber Angel'. A little on the nose if someone was to ask her what she personally thought. Gally fit on the duel disk, appreciating having the machinery separate from the rest of her body. Finally, Gally crashed on the bed, removing the Duel Disk and pulling the sheets over her head as she wondered just how she'd accomplish her goals the next day.

/

Gally had a quick breakfast of an orange and a power bar from a vending machine. Than she began looking for her next target. She'd slept in, but was ok with that considering this particular target wouldn't' be far off. She quickly found a blue-haired demure woman, working at a desk. The woman looked tired and a bit discouraged.

"Hey I have a question, if that's ok?" Gally asked, walking up the the woman and giving her a smile.

"Yes, what can I help you with?" The woman asked, looking a little sleepy herself. Gally thought for a moment. Wording the question might be difficult considering what she wanted.

"If I wanted to find the Vice-Director, where would he be at this time?" Gally asked.

The other woman looked to Gally's ID and smiled. "Well, Miss Alita, he's either by Director Godwin's side, or he's in the break room making ramen noodles. He tends to have an early lunch."

Gally nodded, wondering if she'd slept in too late at the mention of the meal time. "Does he like those ramen noodles?" She asked.

The woman chuckled, surprised by the question. "To be honest, I think they're all he eats. He loves them just as much as Jack does."

The woman stopped, surprised by her own statement and Gally had to wonder how she knew about Jack's food preferences. Still, it wasn't her place to ask about it.

"Thanks-" She started, realizing something. "Sorry, I didn't get your name."

"It's Mikage. Good luck finding the Vice-Director, whatever you need him for." Mikage said.

"Thanks, Mikage!" Gally said. "And where could I find the break room?" She added, hoping the other woman wouldn't mind another question.

/

Jack watched, bored as Bommer and Yusei got ready to duel below, the enthusiastic narrator's words announcing the match to the screaming fans in the crowded rows of seats surrounding the track.

Though he was curious to see if Bommer would give Yusei a challenge after he'd made short work of the girl Ruka earlier, the enthusiastic Deformer user being overwhelmed by Bommer's Reactor deck. Yusei did have Stardust Dragon, but that was just one tool in his arsenal of many. If Bommer wasn't careful, the right Synchro Summon from Yusei would throw him off guard. Jack crossed his arms as the announcer declared it was time to duel, Yusei's sleek red D-wheel and Bommer's monstrosity of a machine both blasting down the track.

One way or another, Jack would see if Bommer was as serious as he'd seemed when he called Jack a weak king in the hallway the other day, deflecting Jack's angry punch with ease. And he'd see if Yusei still had the resolve to see the rest of the tournament through. Jack felt a slight rumble in his stomach, wishing he had a snack to go with the duel he was about to observe from so far up above. Jack was not alone, Godwin standing behind the couch watching the match like a hawk.

/

Jaeger knew a food break was a bit risky, but the appearance of the mysterious girl and the old scientist had flipped things around just enough that he needed the time to calm down with a helping of hot, piping ramen noodles. Godwin wouldn't mind if he returned to see the outcome of the duel in just five minutes, after all.

Jaeger heard the microwave beep and removed the bowl of steaming hot perfection, smelling the dish and sighing at it's scent. All that was missing was the flavor packet. Jaeger turned to grab the packet – the final ingredient to complete his meal when he saw it was gone.

"Eeee?" Jaeger squeaked in surprise. The packet was gone. But then he looked up and almost dropped the bowl in surprise.

Gally stood by the door, crossing her arms and smirking as she dangled the flavor packet above a trash can, her expression akin to a mischievous cat.

"Hey, return that at once!" Jaeger said, shifting his bowl to one hand as he dramatically pointed to Gally with the other.

"Why should I do that? Shouldn't you be watching the duel?" Gally asked, shaking the packet a little bit.

Her plan was to agitate the impish man and it worked as Jaeger placed the bowl on the plastic table beside him and then bounded over it, flying towards her with an open gloved hand. "Give it!" He screeched.

She grinned harder and grabbed him by the forehead, raising her arm up so that he dangled his limbs, kicking her multiple times. The impacts were minimal and Gally decided to stop them as she turned and dropped him with a shove, the clown man landing on his backside and blinking in surprise.

"Don't try that again." Gally said, walking by Jaeger and opening the packet, shaking it into the bowl as she turned around to make eye contact with him again.

"What are you doing!? This is my food break! If you continue this nonsense, I'll have Security take you away!" The clown man said and Gally sighed.

"Well I have another proposal for you, clown, if threatening people is the only language you speak." Gally said, the insult working as Jaeger grit his teeth.

Gally grabbed the bowl of noodles and took a whiff, sighing in mock bliss as she lowered her lips close to the bowl's edge.

"I'll eat this right now if you don't answer my next question!"

Jaeger stood straight up like a stiff board.

"Anything! I'll tell you whatever you want! Just don't eat my precious ramen!" The man yelled.

Gally smirked. Just like the Professor and his flan. Maybe she should try stealing that from Nova next time. It would certainly be a better bargaining chip than her usual death threats.

"Where are you holding Yusei's friends hostage?" She asked and Jaeger's eyes widened.

"I know Godwin's probably trusting you not to disclose this, but waiting for your answer is making me awfully hungry – and this ramen won't stay hot forever." She said.

"Hmph! I would – gladly endure such – cruel – treatment – if it meant honoring my – _my_-!"

"Oh, so you're under orders not to tell me?" Gally asked before she acted.

Jaeger's choppy and angry sentence stopped as Gally got bored of his words and put the bowl to her lips, opening her mouth and letting the noodles and broth down the hatch. She took a long slurp and set the bowl down as Jaeger looked across the room at her as though looks could kill.

"Mmmm! That hits the spot!" Gally said, acting like it was the best thing in the world – though to be true she'd much rather have another orange or a chocolate bar instead.

"Hmph! That's cheap, girl! But I'm not so easily swayed! I don't know what you're talking about! Yusei entered this tournament of his own volition! How else could he get the chance to beat Jack?" The clown asked, but still looked desperate.

"Good to know you're so loyal." Gally said, slurping down the rest of the food as she found another play to make. "Mmm - Alright then. Why would Yusei choose to enter this tournament considering the amount of hate he gets from being a Satellite resident? Or for being sprung out of a prison facility so quickly?"

"I don't know. I can't read his mind." Jaeger responded, face turning red from trying to restrain himself.

"Tell me where his friends are or I'll wash this food down with a little clown beat down." She said, setting down the empty bowl and cracking her knuckles.

"I'm the Vice-Director! What can you do to me?" The man said.

Gally smirked. "More than you know. Now are you going to accept my challenge or not?" she asked him.

/

Speed Warrior screamed as it was shredded into bits from Bommer's latest move, the spiked Chariot Pile trap card sending whirling spikes on the edge of Bommer's right-most wheel into the monster's frame as it exploded.

"So you decided to Release a monster to escape the damage!?" Bommer said and Yusei glared back at him from his own speeding D-Wheel.

"Still, I have more than just this trap card to win with!" Bommer said, the larger man getting ready to make another move.

From far above the field, Godwin stopped observing the match. Something was amiss. Usually Jeager would be back by now. Godwin looked to his watch to see that the clownish Vice-Director had been gone for a good twenty minutes – minutes he should be using to analyze Yusei's mental state and if he was pushed enough yet to Synchro Summon his Stardust Dragon or not.

Godwin turned to his wrist watch which also worked as a mobile device, giving him access to the cameras in the area. He was surprised as Jeager wasn't feasting on ramen, but rather pinned to the ground, limbs twisted like a pretzel as the girl who was ID'd as Alita perched on the small of his back, staring directly at the camera that Godwin saw through. She gave him a wave and Godwin glared at her briefly.

"Hey, do you have time to talk to me? This clown won't say anything, even when I threaten to eat his food." The woman asked. Godwin looked over to Jack, the man too engrossed in the duel to see what he was doing.

"Release Vice-Director Jeager at once. I assure you I will have time to talk once the duel concludes." Godwin said, speaking softly to the watch.

"Only if I have your word we'll talk. And that your 'talk' isn't sending a squad of Security goons after me that you won't hear from again." She said, crossing her arms and pressing down on Jeager's back with one of her feet, causing the man to yelp.

Godwin cut the volume so that Jack wouldn't hear the clown man's whines, preferring to simply nod, holding a hand up in mock surrender as the woman stood up, pulling up Jeager with her. She pointed to herself and Jeager and then straight to the camera that Godwin saw through, right at him. Godwin nodded, understanding that she'd meet him where he was currently.

"Security, be ready to let Vice-Director Jeager and a guest in." Godwin said, remaining calm as he wondered how he could push the girl's buttons. If she was willing to go this far, that meant she had a weakness of some kind.


	9. Junk Berserker

Ride 9: Junk Berserker

Gally walked into the room with confidence, Jeager trailing behind her looking pissed off. Godwin exhaled and narrowed his eyes at the her and Gally decided to play dumb, jumping over the couch and crossing her legs as she sat next to Jack.

"How's the duel going?" Gally asked. Jack looked over to her, bored.

"Bommer thinks he's won, but that's where he's about to slip up. Yusei might be in a pinch right now, but watch this." Jack said as Yusei drew his card. According to the announcer, it was Yusei's 'Final Destiny Draw!'

Yusei drew the card, and Gally saw a ghost of a smile on his face as he declared what it was.

"Speed Spell – Synchro Return! If I have five or more Speed Counters, I can Special Summon a Synchro Monster that was removed from play! Return, Junk Warrior!" Yusei yelled as his monster appeared above him with a grunt, blasting down the track (5/2300/1300).

Yusei's previously summoned Arms Aid broke apart, becoming a black gauntlet with sharp red fingertips as it equipped to Junk Warrior's wrist (5/2300 → 3300/1300).

"Arms Aid gives the equipped monster one-thousand extra attack points!" Yusei explained.

"Junk Warrior! _**Power Gear Fist!**_" Yusei roared as his monster blasted towards Bommer's own Synchro monster, Dark Dive Bomber.

The next sequence was the most brutal display of holographic violence that Gally would ever see in a game of Duel Monsters, as The crimson jet bomber themed monster fired a barrage of missiles towards Junk Warrior, but with a roar, Junk Warrior emerged from the orange explosion with increased velocity.

Junk Warrior held up it's glowing – and now outstretched – palm as it ignited a blazing yellow, expanding until it was a massive hand of light, grabbing the wide-eyed Dark Dive Bomber. The energy claw distorted the other monster's frame, engulfing the Synchro in it's grip as the rival monster exploded.

Then Junk Warrior extended it's fist, a secondary blast of yellow grabbing Bommer's own D-Wheel and reducing the man's life-points to zero as Yusei explained it's effect – dealing the destroyed monsters' attack as damage to Bommer's life-points.

The crowd cheered a bit louder than Gally expected for the man with a marker, more from surprise at the upset victory than for the man who'd just won.

Bommer's D-Wheel spun out of control and ground to a halt as Yusei stopped as well. Then the commentator was cut off as Bommer's voice could be heard speaking through the microphone.

/

The next things happened in a blur as Bommer revealed footage of his hometown being enveloped in an explosion that consumed the entire area he'd projected on the viewing globe for the audience to see, telling Yusei and Jack not to trust Godwin and that the Director was to blame for his village's destruction.

Then he declared that a tragedy like that would never happen again as he took off on his D-Wheel – driving up the sloped edge of the ring and blasting off as he rocketed towards Godwin himself.

"Bommer!" Yusei yelled as he did the same, flying off from an opposing angle to intercept Bommer's D-Wheel, the two bikes colliding in mid-air as one of the 'Chariot Pile' spikes that Bommer had equipped broke off, hurtling towards Godwin. Jack wasn't sure even someone as tough as Gally could react in time – yet she didn't need to as Godwin himself grabbed the spinning projectile, stopping it cold as it tore through his glove – revealing gun metal steel beneath the glove as he squeezed and stopped it's rotation.

And that's when things got weird.

/

Yusei was in the middle of telling Bommer that pursuing revenge would make him just as bad as Godwin when Bommer suddenly tensed and the D-Wheel the tall man was on melted and warped around him the gigantic frame completely swallowing him.

Bommer yelled in surprise as he fell into the twisting metal as cables and tubes formed around him, covering his body in a chassis of armor, the three huge legs of the D-Wheel he was on remaining as they extended to raise Bommer higher into the air as the man's helmet shifted and warped, becoming fused to the man's face. The hybrid of man and machine let out a chilling shriek part mechanical and part human as it raised an arm, pointing it towards Godwin. On it's wrist was mounting the second Chariot Pile, which began to rotate slowly.

/

"Cut the footage and seal the track from the bleachers. Set the hologram around the stadium to idle. We need to contain this now. If we can do so, we can say it was a holographic failure." Godwin said quickly, assessing the situation as calmly as he could.

"What's going on, Godwin?!" Jack stated, surprised at the events below. Covering them up would do little to hide what he just saw, as Bommer merged with his craft to become a mechanical devil.

"Kya-ha-ha!" Nova exclaimed and everyone looked to the source of the sound. Nova appeared with an ear to ear grin as he looked around the room.

"My next gift to you! Godwin! You wanted to see what I could offer you, and here it is! I present a man given the gift to fully act on his own Karma." Nova said with a bow.

"Gally! You have the strength alone to oppose him but be careful – the slightest show of your true and terrible power of that Imaginos body could throw the whole place into chaos!" Nova said, looking to Godwin with a smirk.

"And you! What can you do to stop this, Director?" Nova asked as the hybrid of Bommer and the D Wheel roared. "Your smoke and mirrors can only go so far? What will you do if Bommer tears your golden boy down there into a bloody pulp? Or ignores him and goes right to kill you?" Nova asked.

Godwin glared at Nova now, a terrible fury like a calm before a storm. Gally looked down at the monster that Nova created and frowned. It would fall on her to clean up Nova's mess now, wouldn't it? She thought, hoping this time it would have a happier ending for her.

"Graaaaah!" The cyborg fusion screamed, blasting off to personally kill Godwin, ramping off the track a second time, now guided by the fusion's own will power, no miraculous red D-wheel to stop him this time.

Bommer didn't get that far - as Gally leapt down from the hole created from the first Chariot Pile, meeting Bommer in mid-air. The spinning blades of Chariot Pile clashed with a pair of her own Damascus Blades – one on each arm. The fusion was bulkier and moved with the strength, but also skill, simply lowering the spinning blade to try and cut Gally to ribbons. Luckily this meant that his trajectory was changed, falling towards the ground. But unfortunately for Gally, that meant she'd have to avoid it's wheels, never mind the spinning weapon of death.

She hated to admit it, but if she didn't want to make a scene, she'd need some help.

Gally made it to the ground first, skidding backwards before Bommer landed. The hulking cybernetic fusion slammed into the ground, shaking the area as Gally stood up, creating her skates as she looked over to Yusei, who had begun backing up in reverse at the sight of the thing, a look of shock on his face.

"Yusei!" Gally yelled out, reversing herself so that she was beside him – backing up at the same pace.

"I could use some help!" Gally said, grabbing a device off of her back and tossing it at Yusei's Duel Disk. The device magnetized to it and Yusei could barely register what was going on as Gally spoke next.

"The best way I can think of stopping that thing is together. My body can produce a Collapser – nanobots that can break down cybernetic tissue. It could be a way to save Bommer. But I need you and Junk Warrior to distract him if you can. Duel Monsters started this, so they should help to finish it!" Gally said.

"Junk Warrior?! But Solid Vision won't do! I'm no Psychic Duelist!" Yusei said, speeding up his machine as the fusion of Bommer and his D-Wheel looked at them and began to accelerate.

"That device I attached to your Duel Disk is Nova's! It turns your monsters as solid as they can go! Nova wanted to see if he could weaponize Duel Monsters and that was his result! Now can you help me stop him?" Gally asked as the machine hybrid tried to mow them down, both combatants spilling up to avoid the gigantic wheels and now, fists, of the machine containing Bommer's rage.

Yusei caught a glimpse of Bommer now, the man's body completely covered by mechanical parts. First, the silver cow skull on the front of the craft had become a chest-plate of sorts, while the ram-horn helmet expanded to become a second metal skin, the red visor glowing as though it were a single eye. Then Bommer's arms had been covered, giant pile-driver like pistons protruding from his forearms, a claw on the end of one and the spinning drill of Chariot Pile in the other.

The base of the D-Wheel remained structurally the same, three large wheels supporting the bike's gigantic frame, like the marriage of a tricycle and a monster truck.

"Yeah. I'll help you stop this. We have to save Bommer!" Yusei said.

Yusei decided to give it a try – without his cards, he just had himself and his D-Wheel, and the Yusei-Go had barely been able to stop Bommer _before_ he'd merged with his machine. But now –

"Junk Warrior!" Yusei yelled turning his D-Wheel around when he got the chance and accelerating away from the hybrid as Junk Warrior appeared in front of it, Arms Aid equipped as his monster grappled with Bommer punching and tearing at the back of the D-Wheel body, sending scraps and cables flying as it did so. Unfortunately the machine body Bommer was inside of made them about even, as Bommer's upper body pivoted one-hundred and eighty degrees so he could engage Junk Warrior face to face. Rectangular metal arms rose from the frame of the D-Wheel, striking Junk Warrior back and leaving sizable dents in the monsters' purple armor as it pushed him away.

Bommer gave out a roar, and Giant Bommer AIRRAID, his ace monster, along with Dark Dive Bomber, his dark red and streamlined robot - reappeared above him.

Yusei didn't even want to ask if those were Solid Vision or not as they started shooting a combination of bullets and missiles at Junk Warrior. Yusei banked hard to the lip of the track to drive around Bommer as The Black Storm himself pursued Gally.

Junk Warrior broke Bommer's hold and followed his lead, doing his best to shrug off the barrage of missiles and hail of bullets both of Bommer's monsters sent the Synchro Warrior's way.

_"If I have to fight Bommer's arsenal of planes, I need something else!" _Yusei thought as he disregarded any rules of Duel Monsters he knew of at the moment and drew again, looking at the card with uncertainty.

_"This might work, but I'll need some set-up first."_ Yusei thought, setting the card in question as the areal fighters kept up their pursuit.

/

The scene before Gally was quite nostalgic, the Motorball games fresh in her head from the bought with Jack - and now the cybernetic fighter in front of her brought up those same feelings. The only thing missing was an actual ball.

_"I only used the Collapser once before – against Zapan in the Berserker Body. Synthesizing it using my brain's memory of the stuff is dangerous – but it's the only thing I can think of that could save Bommer!"_ Gally thought hastily as she kept out of reach of Bommer's pile-driver claw and drill weapons, each leaving an impact on the walls and pavement of the track as she avoided them.

"Nova, why did you do this?" Gally yelled into her comm. She heard the man laugh. "I got bored. And Godwin wanted to see results!" Nova said and Gally growled, forming a jet of plasma as she tried to burn through the arm holding Chariot Pile.

"Now that he's seen what I can do for him, I don't think he'd be interested in a partnership. No matter – Make the Collapser from scratch or fight the merged Bommer yourself!" Nova said. "Pick one or neither!"  
_  
_She hated to admit it, but Nova had a point. If only she'd had more experience using this body in the past, she'd be able to handle the situation with ease. But for now she'd have to make due.

Gally bared her teeth as Bommer struck where she was headed, the piston knocking her down. But she was not out yet as she grabbed a horn of the cow-skull chest-plate and kicked off of it, landing in front of Bommer again, this time driving away from him in reverse as she focused everything on synthesizing the Collapser.

_/  
_

A gigantic bomb fired from Giant Bomber AIRRAID towards Junk Warrior, the Synchro monster disconnecting Arms Aid from its right arm to let the equip Synchro card take the hit instead, the large explosion detonating far away enough not to cause any damage to the Warrior.

Then a trap opened up beside Yusei and a massive silver blaster rifle appeared in Junk Warrior's hands, a support belt strapping around the monster's waist as it grabbed the beam rifle with two hands, pointing straight at Dark Dive Bomber.  
_  
_"Synchro Striker Unit – Lock -on!" Yusei yelled as Junk Warrior rose higher in the sky and got in position, slamming the tip of the rifle into Dark Dive Bomber's chest.

"Fire!" Yusei yelled and Junk Warrior pulled the trigger, the ensuing ball of electricity blasting from the rife's tip - slamming through Dark Dive Bomber as it was created. The fighter plane robot was knocked back, as the blast of energy itself rammed into Giant Bomber AIRRAID as both monsters exploded from the single attack, the solid vision debris scattering into bits of light.

With his air support gone, Bommer was alone and Gally might want assistance if the operation was to succeed.  
_  
_"Junk Warrior, keep him occupied!" Yusei yelled, his monster grunting as it fired a shot into one of Bommer's wheels, making him veer to the side as Gally zipped away down the track.

Yusei and Gally were hurtling towards each other, Yusei banking to the side so Gally could grab the canopy that hung over his seat, using it to swing around and perch on top of the D-Wheel as though they'd practiced the move. "If we load the Collapser in that Junk Warrior's rifle, we can administer it directly!" Gally said now that he could hear her.

"But for now, do you have a ball I could use?" Gally asked him.

/

Bommer could only feel rage and pain. There were no senses he had now other than the faint memory of a duel and his two dear siblings – Max and Annie, erased in a swath of flames. The only thing that could sate his rage would be more death. The death of Godwin. Bommer knew that it would not change anything really. Yliaster would just put up another puppet Director, but it would be satisfying to him for that brief moment. Bommer heard sounds of battle, far off and away. He was safe right now, in some kind of cocoon. But something was calling him. And it was not done with his rage just yet.

/

The wheel of Bommer's machine that Junk Warrior had blasted righted itself and began to shift back in place. Gally groaned. She was afraid of that.

"How did he get ahold of the restorer robots?" She asked and Nova seemed confused.

"I don't know! I just gave Bommer's D-wheel some modifications last night. It shouldn't be able to call them – unless!" Nova stopped for a moment.

"Unless that D-Wheel model is connected to him on a deeper level! Then it might perceive the damage to the mechanical parts as damage to Bommer himself! The levels of karma that man radiates are fairly powerful! How was I supposed to know he could use my restorer robots on himself?" Nova asked. It was a fair point, but it did nothing to help the current predicament.

"Since the restorer robots automatically repair damaged tissue and machinery, that means they must be locking onto him – the only target to repair other than yourself, Gally. The boy's monster can't kill him with brute force. On paper, he's invincible." Nova finished.

Gally looked to her right hand, the one not grabbing on the side of Yusei's D-Wheel at the moment as a syringe come out of her palm. "I can inject it manually, but-" She thought better of it as Bommer tore up the track, zig-zagging to avoid Junk Warrior's next shot. Yusei exhaled as Junk Warrior's power fell (5/2500 → 1700).

"Each use of Synchro Striker Unit takes up some of Junk Warrior's power, as its effects in Duel Monsters seem to be affecting it here too. We only have two more shots of it before Junk Warrior's attack power is practically drained." Yusei explained.

Bommer closed in on them, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow blocking one of his attacks as Gally used the make-shift ball Yusei had given her, throwing the rounded tuner monster, Turbo Synchron at Bommer's head. The green and squat Tuner struck true, cracking the visor and leaving Bommer open for a kick to the neck from Gally. Still, she noticed that the plating was too thick for a needle to work as she sank into the kick to set up a leap.

She flipped back and landed again on the top of Yusei's crimson bike. "I'm going to create a bullet from pure matter using this Imaginos body. Can Junk Warrior fire it at Bommer from that cannon?" Gally asked.

"It's some kind of energy blaster." Yusei said, glancing to the face-up card of Synchro Striker Unit. "I have no idea how it works, it's some kind of science fiction weapon." He said with a straight face as Bommer growled in a machine roar, surprised as Scrap-Iron Scarecrow blocked him a second time around.

"In that case, I'll administer it through pure plasma!" She said, looking up at Junk Warrior.

"Tell the big guy to grab me!" She said and Yusei complied, yelling to his monster.

"Junk Warrior! Let Gally hop on you. She's going to give you a special bullet for your rifle!" Yusei commanded.

Junk Warrior grunted in agreement, flying away from Bommer and hovering down so that Gally could leap up and grab around one of his thin ankles. She had put the canister of Plasma that her body had created in between her teeth as she climbed up the Synchro Warrior's body.

The rifle was easier to access than she'd feared once she'd perched herself on one of Junk Warrior's shoulders, sliding the bullet into the gun with ease as she looked to the round face of the scrap-iron fighter.

"I'm gonna distract him with some more Panzer Kunst and Motorball moves while you get the shot ready. Don't worry about me." Gally said, leaping off the purple machine's back as she hit the ground and picked up the fallen Turbo Synchron a second time.

/

Jack found himself very entertained watching the spectacle, only wishing he could be there as well. Yet now he was too awestruck to move as Junk Warrior shot Bommer in the back, this time the blast was blue and had lingering lightning around the composite D-Wheel duelist. All Jack could really do was look through the broken window as it was the only place that the holograms weren't censoring.

The machine Bommer shot the last Chariot Pile at Junk Warrior, the bladed projectile slamming into Junk Warrior's left arm, causing it to drop the Synchro Striker Unit rifle. The Pile scraped by, cutting a chuck of the Warrior's body out and Jack could see Junk Warrior was struggling to keep aloft.

Meanwhile, Gally was improvising another attack, leaping through the air and slamming Turbo Synchron into Bommer a second time, this time an overhead dunking maneuver. She leapt back and spun, throwing Turbo Synchro again at Bommer. It struck true, and Bommer began to slow down.

"Bommer! Listen! You can fight it!" Yusei yelled and Jack wanted to laugh hearing him forever remain a voice of reason, even when things got this bad. No matter the circumstances, his previous friend would remain the same.

"Bommer, fight it and win! We need you to fight it with us!" Yusei urged, driving next to the fused D-Wheeler. "Don't lose to your hatred!"

Junk Warrior's body slammed into the track as it could no longer keep flying. The warrior dispersed into golden flakes of light as it broke apart. Now it looked like Gally and Yusei were both on their last legs as Bommer began to contort – a mechanical scream coming from the cyborg fusion.

Then the metal plates opened up, the tubes, piping and wires inside of the mechanical husk retreating from Bommer's body as they receded into the D-Wheel, the damaged frame halting as Bommer's body emerged, still in his duel gear and looking passed out.

"Ooohh! Looks like you kids did it!" Nova said from the comm_. "Thank God." _Gally thought_. "If he'd fully merged with that D-Wheel, the Collapser would've surely killed him." _

"Bommer!" Yusei yelled in relief as he stopped his own machine, dismounting to check up on Bommer.

Gally looked up and turned to Jack and Godwin, giving Godwin a hard stare.

"Let's hope the man in the clouds is as happy as you are, Professor." Gally said.

/

"I suppose the assassination attempt will be hand-waved as part of his machine's unexpected transformation." Godwin said while Nova smirked at him.

"Never mind that – what about your hand?" Jack asked and Godwin smiled, producing a white spotless glove from his pocket that he fit over the cybernetic fingers and wrist.

"That's another story, from my past." Godwin said cryptically. "Though we should recover Bommer in any case. Although it seems an arrest is a bit out of our reach at the moment." He said, looking at Jeager who nodded with a salute.

"In any case, let the public know that Izayoi Aki's next duel will continue on the scheduled time. We can repair the track after the next series of standing duels are completed." Godwin said. "

Then the hologram faded to reveal the track in it's damaged state. Godwin gave a speech and his honeyed words that he'd protect the people, even at the cost of his own life seemed to pacify the crowds despite the damage to the track.

/

"I'll stay with Bommer to make sure he's ok." Yusei said, disconnecting the Solid Vision device from his Duel Disk and throwing it to Gally, who caught it and nodded. A medical team arrived, loading Bommer on a stretcher and Yusei followed the vehicle once he'd put away all of his cards, making sure he kept the man in his sights – who knew what Godwin could be planning with that level of foreign technology?

/

The lab was empty now, save for Nova, looking at a diagram. Then something hard and made of metal slammed suddenly into the floor. Nova kept the goofy smile on his face even as he turned to the souce of the sound - the blunt impact of the Chariot Pile Fragment.

Godwin stood over the fallen scientist and narrowed his eyes as the man smaller man didn't seem intimidated by him in the least.

"Director Godwin." Nova said with a smirk on his face. "I take it you're not pleased with what my genius has to offer?"

Godwin looked down on him. "If that had gone on any longer – if the holographic projectors weren't functioning – you could have shut down the entire event." Once again here was his anger, disguised as intelligence as Godwin would undoubtedly keep listing all of Nova's character defects.

Nova yawned and Godwin stopped, surprised at the brazen breach of decorum.

"So you're threatening me, is that it?" Nova asked and Godwin stopped. "No. I think we both know that this is past just a threat."

Nova laughed at him. "Well by all means! Kill me if you're so ready to be rid of me!" Nova said, wrinkled face twisting in joy as he laughed at Godwin's confused reaction.

"Fine then! If you lack the conviction!-" Nova pushed a button on the control panel he worked on and the Momentum reactor began to hum slightly louder, the rainbow either inside of it fluctuating at a greater speed. "Then I'll do it myself for you!"

Then Nova walked to the edge of the device and turned to smile at Godwin.

"Good luck, Director! I predict you're going to have quite a large amount of karma come your way soon!" The mad scientist said as he leapt over the edge, laughing as he fell into the rainbow abyss.

Godwin was shocked, moving quickly to shut down the reactor and looked down the now dark shaft: there were no remains as he'd expected, the reactor likely atomized Nova's structure down to the slightest molecule. But still, the eagerness and sheer fearlessness of Nova was maddening. Like he'd done the same thing before, but that was impossible.

Then Godwin found out he was targeted far too quickly to process as Gally grabbed him, jumped across the room, and pinned him to the wall. She was somehow able to hold him up with just one hand, burning through part of his collar with a glowing blue finger.

"I don't really care what your station is, murderer. You have the power to let Yusei's friends go. And I swear that I'll end you right here if you don't do that." Gally said, glaring.

"Well now, it seems you're not thinking straight." Godwin said with a grin. "What, pray tell would Yusei think if you were the cause of his friends' demise? Make no mistake, Gally. I appreciate your help in stopping Bommer, but at the moment you're not in a position to make threats, especially seeing the results of your ally's insanity first-hand. Do consider that a simple phone call from me could throw Bommer in prison if I willed it."

Gally tisked and let go. "You don't want to underestimate me. Especially after you've seen what I can do."

"I don't underestimate anyone. I merely fail to see why you're so caught up in someone's problems. You already made your point clearly going after Jeager." Godwin said, straightening his jacket and standing to his full height.

Gally frowned. Evidently she hadn't made it clear enough to him as she glanced to where Nova had been working.

"I will be monitoring Miss Izayoi's next duel. I pray for your sake that you do not interrupt me again, or there will be more consequences, though if not for you directly than for others." Godwin said, looking away from her. Gally didn't need to see his face to know he was grinning as he said every word.


	10. Angel Baton

Ride 10: Angel Baton

"Watch Izayoi's match for me. I'm going to stay with Bommer until I know he's alright." Yusei said. "I won't let Godwin have another person under his thumb if I can help it." he said, calling her room from the hospital's phone.

At Yusei's request from the hospital, Gally met his City friends in the rows of blue seats overlooking the tournament. The twins Rua and Ruka she'd already met, but the rest were new acquaintances. Their friend Tenpei, a boy with dark glasses, neat shoulder length brown hair, and a zigzagging bit of hair hanging from his forehead. And older man named Yanagi, with a leaning posture and thin arms, wearing a yellow robe and having a laid back smile despite the marker on his face. Finally the last member was a proud former pro duelist named Jin Himuro, teal hair jutting from his tanned head at four upward directions in four long spikes, the rest of his hair a short military buzz. He had two thin markers from his nose down to each mid-cheek. Gally wondered what the crime was to get two of those things, but didn't ask. The younger crowd was a bit intimidated by her body as they noticed her mechanical parts when she sat by them in the seats, but the older men didn't bat an eye.

"I mean this woman dueling next has Psychic powers. That's something I'm worried about considering what she did to her last opponent. Not some fancy prosthetic." Himuro said, looking at Gally's arm as she cupped her face in one of her hands.

"Hey, I don't see what the problem is!" Yanagi yelled. "Dueling is for everyone, no matter what powers they might have!"

Gally smiled and looked to Izayoi, the red clad woman standing still, face a cold expression as she regarded her opponent, who went by the Mad Profiler.

"That dragon of hers' is strong." Gally said and Ruka blinked.

"You saw it in the previous match?" She asked.

Gally shook her head. "No. At the Diamon Area." Gally said.

This made Rua and Tenpei sit up in interest. "You saw her there too?! That sure was scary!" Rua said.

Gally narrowed her eyes and looked to the woman. "She doesn't seem like she wants to be here."

"That's because she's a front for the Arcadia Movement." Himuro said. "A haven for Psychic Duelists all over the City.

"Arcadia Movement?" Gally asked.

"Yeah. Even with the underground rumors she's the Black Rose Witch of the underworld, she's a rallying cry for the movement. The best face that they've got – from what I hear she used to be the daughter of a senator." Himuro said.

Gally frowned. That was certainly suspicious.

"Hey, I forgot something. I'm going back to my room to get it." Gally said, standing up and smiling at the group. "You guys enjoy the duel, ok?" She asked.

/

Black Rose Dragon let out a roar as her master summoned her to the field, the audience screaming for the witch to be put to death as the duel raged on.

"The Black Rose Witch." Gally said, recognizing the dragon Izayoi had summoned.

"Yes. Miss Izayoi is a Psychic Duelist, and that is her alias in the underworld." Jaeger said. Despite the earlier run-in Gally had with Godwin, the Director allowed her to observe the duel if she agreed not to cause him any more trouble.

"What's so special about the Arcadia Movement?" Gally asked. Godwin looked over his shoulder at her. "They are a group believing to be the foundation of a new world. Their leader, Divine, is a fanatic who thinks himself a God."

"And she's his sword?" Gally asked, watching the woman below waver as the Profiler's monster blasted apart Black Rose Dragon with a laser beam.

"Yes. That's an apt description. But there's more." Godwin said. "Due to Izayoi's psychic power, we believe she is a Signer.

"Hmph, so your coveted chess piece is on someone else's board then?" Gally asked. Godwin narrowed his eye, nodding and turned back to the match.

"Trap card, Rose Curse!" Izayoi roared as a storm of razor-sharp petals blew through the arena, tearing away pieces of the stone dueling field that she and the Profiler were on. The man screamed as the crimson petals dealt actual damage, costing him more than just life-points as he fell to the ground.

The crowd booed her, in an uproar as the woman stood alone, her opponent carried away by the medical crew. Considering what happened a mere hour ago, Gally was sure that the world could be ending and Godwin's presence there would keep the audiences' bodies planted in their seats.

"Yusei, your duel is about to begin." Gally said, narrowing her eyes to Aki. The next match would begin in thirty minutes. "She's strong."

Jack looked over to her and was in thought. "Such an opponent is fitting for Yusei's next match! The winner will face the King!" Gally wanted to laugh but held it in. She didn't want to give Godwin another reason to blackmail her.

Then she looked down to the arena and had an idea.

/

Professor Akutsu was asleep at the switch as Gally entered the far more advanced Security lab, using the clearance code she'd scanned from Nova's own ID card.

She was in luck, as a green computer chip was hanging off of a lanyard on an empty desk, presumably Nova's.

Gally removed the chip from the string and inserted it into her own body – as there was a place in the Imaginos body for her to interact with other AI systems. As she'd suspected, Nova had created a back-up copy of his mind in case things went south.

"Gally, so good to hear from you!" Nova's voice said in her head. "I see you've found my copy on hand!" The man said. "So, how did I die this time?" he asked.

"Godwin tried to threaten you and you called his bluff by killing yourself when the cameras were switched off." Gally thought, looking around the room.

"Ah! Yes, that would do it, I'm afraid. I can't seem to help my flare for the dramatic. Well, as you've got the most recent memories of myself with you, I'm all yours to command now." The scientist said.

"You mean you'll help me completely now?" Gally asked.

"Yes. Consider it atonement all the bad karma I've caused you in the past decade, though I know it doesn't make up for Zapan or Ido's fate." Nova said matter-of-factually. "But know that I don't regret one moment of it!"

"You're going to help me now?" Gally asked.

"Yes. Though I'm sure Godwin won't be happy about it, but that's part of the fun!" Nova said.

"Ta-ta Professor Akutsu! Maybe in ten years, you'll be on my level! And I'll be seeing you on the other side, Gally" The man said with a laugh as Gally exited the building, back turned to the swirling light of the blazing reactor.

Then it was time for the plan to really kick in motion. For Gally that meant she would have to get home from a great surge of the Momentum energy. As Nova explained it, since the Imaginos body was such a huge influence of karma when united with her soul that meant that it would take that much more energy to send her back.

She decided it would be a problem for later and left the room, letting the other Professor sleep.

/

Aki exhaled and Divine removed a stray hair from her sleeve, smiling at her.

"Do your best, Aki." Divine had said to her with kindness in his eyes. She was determined to do just that as she walked down the hallway in a hurry to prepare for the next match with Yusei before she would face Jack.

Then she saw a piercing gaze, the dark haired woman standing with her arms crossed, cybernetics in full view, having shrugged the trench-coat back on her shoulders as though it were a cape. Aki stopped and turned to acknowledge the other. Beside the woman were others, three kids and two older men. But the woman's stare is what caught Aki's eye.

"You. From the Diamon Area." Aki said, stopping her stride to acknowledge the person.

"That's me." The other woman said with a grin, though her eyes were still as intense even as her glare softened a bit.

"Hmph. You're not a Duelist. Why are you even here?" Aki asked.

"I want to see your resolve. And why you fight." The cyborg said.

Aki turned away. "I fight because-" She began.

"Excuse us, Miss, but we're here for Aki." A tall man in a brown trench coat said. His hair was a dark red, the same as Izayoi's own, but the hand on her shoulder wasn't the touch of a family member. It was far too possessive to be that.

From what Godwin said, he had to be Divine.

_"To think they have such great power and they waste it on a PR stunt like this!"_ Nova said in his brain chip. Gally sighed, thinking back to him. "_Please, you'd be experimenting on their brains if you had half a chance!" _

_"Too true!" _Nova said with a cackle and Gally tuned him out.

Yusei arrived shortly later, appearing from a rising elevator in a blast of smoke. Aki did the same and the two stared across the field as the pompadour styled announcer declared the duel had begun. Gally had returned to the observation booth with Jack, Godwin and Jaeger as they watched the game unfold.

AKI: 4000, YUSEI: 4000

"And there they go." Jaeger said with a grin as the first few turns passed without either player budging.

Then it happened on Aki's third turn.

"Advance Summon – Rose Tentacles!" Aki declared, the psychic playing her next card as a gigantic and monstrous rose with several thorny vines appeared beside her (6/2200/1200).

She then proceeded to destroy all of Yusei's monsters – his Turret Warrior as well as each of the small Ivy Tokens she'd summoned to his field. Yusei was not safe, as each attack caused Rose Tentacles to ensnare him with a vine, one around each leg, his right arm and then wrapping around his waist as they all lifted him into the air.

Gally sat up, ready to act and Godwin spoke up. "Please remain in your seat. I want to see how Yusei responds."

Then Rose Tentacles dropped him and Yusei barely had time to yell as he slammed into the ground with a cloud of dust.

Then he was back on his feet as his life-points fell drastically.

"My. . . turn." Yusei breathed out as he began. Yusei had to stall for a turn, Shield Warrior and two set cards giving him a meager defense as the Rose monster still was able to strike him with a tendril, knocking off some life-points as the two exchanged words.

"Rejection and anger... but there's one more emotion hidden." Yusei said.

"Izayoi Aki, you destroy. And you enjoy this power of destruction." he finished saying between deep breaths, resting from the fall he'd just taken.

"I … enjoy destruction?" Aki asked, repeating what Yusei said to her.

/

Junk Warrior moved to shatter Rose Tentacles as Yusei's Junk Attack card dealt Aki some damage. Still, that was only the beginning of Aki's duel.

Divine was pleased with the unfolding duel. As he'd explained to Aki, she'd beat Yusei, and then the puppet king of Godwin's before becoming the Duel Queen, using her pull to make the Arcadia Movement shine to all Psychic Duelists shunned by society.

Black Rose Dragon appeared again with a roar, restricting Junk Warrior and attempting to blast it apart, but Yusei was tenacious, using a card on his field and one from his Graveyard in tandem to protect his monster and his own life-points.

Then Divine took a step back as the next creature appeared – a dragon made out of the stars themselves – and Yusei's counterpart dragon to Aki's own if you believed in that dusty legend. Stardust Dragon appeared with a rasp, exchanging greetings with Black Rose Dragon as the two roared at one another.

Stardust blasted Black Rose Dragon apart, but it was a temporary measure – Aki's deck was designed to recycle her dragon and both of its punishing abilities to their maximum potential.

Then Aki pulled out her mask – the disguise Divine stated she didn't need anymore, and she put it on.

"Aki, you really are a naughty girl." Divine said as she affixed the mask to her face.

Then Divine smirked as Aki used another trap card, Black Rose Dragon returning with a blast of purple, its effect blowing debris and strong winds throughout the area before it would move to destroy the entire field.

/

Jack grabbed his forearm where his mark was and Gally noticed he was wincing in slight pain. And looking over the crowd, she could see Ruka was doing the same. The duel was still proceeding at a fast pace as Yusei opted to defend this time with Stardust Dragon rather than attack. Gally focused her hearing on what Yusei and Aki were saying – arguing over what their marks meant – Aki thought it branded them both outcasts to society while Yusei thought it meant they needed to think for themselves.

"Don't presume to know how I feel! Black Rose Dragon's effect activates! I'll destroy all the cards on the field! Black Rose Gale!" Aki yelled as the maelstrom of purple petals started to blow throughout the arena.

"I'll catch anything you dish out! Victim Sanctuary!" Yusei yelled out as he sent his dragon to the Graveyard.

Then it was decisive as Aki was open to attack Yusei directly, but one final trap from Yusei cost her the duel as Stardust Dragon re-appeared, sending a burst of wind at Aki's mask and shattering it.

"The winner is Fudo Yusei!" The announcer yelled as the crowd cheered more enthusiastically now for the man from the place they despised – for at least he wasn't a freak like she was.

Yusei looked shocked to hear those words as the man called Divine led Aki away from the duel area.

/

About five minutes after the match had ended, there was suddenly commotion as grunts could be heard outside. Two bodies fell to the floor as a serious looking Yusei entered the room, glaring at Godwin.

"Hey, you can't be in here!" A bulky man in a green security jacket said, grabbing Yusei.

"Miss Alita, please escort Officer Ushio out of the premises." Godwin said and for once Gally was happy to do what he wanted, pulling the larger man away from an annoyed looking Yusei and dragging him out of the room, the doors closing behind her with a definite hiss.

"You can't do this to me, girl! Do you know what he's put me through?" The officer yelled, pointing to a jagged scar on the side of his face.

"Well the city burned one of their own in his face permanently, so in a way you're even, Officer." Gally said, putting her back to the door so that Ushio couldn't enter.

"Why you! Where's your clearance!?" Ushio asked. Gally smiled and looked to the two bodies that were at her feet, professional security guards no doubt – and ones that Yusei had knocked out flat on the spot.

"Well it's here." She said, making a fist. "I decide whether you join these clowns taking a dirt-nap or not. If you have a post to get to, I'd recommend getting there." Gally said and the man left, restraining his anger as he stomped off.

It was a smart choice. Gally was going to say something else when the chip in her arm buzzed. Nova spoke to her.

"It's Akutsu messaging Godwin. According to his predictions, this next duel should be the strongest surge in Momentum!" Nova exclaimed.

Nova's hologram smiled. "Gally! That's your way home if the predicted levels are adequate! You just need to be on the track once those levels of Momentum peak!" Nova said, bowing before he vanished. Gally blinked and thought of what she still needed to do before she left the area.


	11. Stardust Angel

Final Ride : Stardust Angel

Godwin stared at the arm floating in the vat, the symbol of the Crimson Dragon's head just in reach. Soon it would be time for the dragon to arrive, and with it the hope to save the City from the terror that would soon arrive.

Godwin stopped as someone was in the area, and this time he was prepared for her. He heard a yelp as the magnetic waves he'd set up stunned the cyborg, aided by a taser he administered to her personally.

The two-pronged attack paralyzed her and gave him enough time to briskly walk over and wrap his good hand around her neck, tightening it and smirking as she bared her teeth and narrowed her eyes in pain from his own cybernetic arm's grip.

"You really thought I wouldn't set up traps of my own? After Nova's experiment? And after you went after Yeager?" Godwin asked, looking into her blazing eyes with no worry. Now she was immobile and nothing would change that.

"It's really easy to figure you out, Gally." Godwin said, raising her off of the ground by just her neck as he'd done the same to Mikage shortly before. It would be so easy to end her life with a squeeze, but Godwin wanted to savor the moment before his biggest moment of triumph – to be the better person by sparing the living weapon he now help.

"You're another simpleton like Jack – one trait makes you stand you and you think you're the king of the mountain, when in reality you're just a tool to be used by the real powers that be." Godwin said.

Then he heard laughter as a holographic projection of Desty Nova appeared in front of him, projected from Gally's loose-hanging arm.

"Gya-ha-ha!" Nova laughed, sneering at Godwin. "Does that make me one of those 'real powers'? Can't you kill me this time yourself, Director?" Nova taunted and Godwin grinned.

"That's easy." Godwin responded with a grin and decided to end the psychotic Professor's existence once and for all. "If purging you from the world requires me to make such a sacrifice, then I will not hesitate. So be it."

His fingers contracted harder around the woman's neck, veins present as her face turned pale. Nova's hologram began to fade away. Then she stopped, Gally's fingers falling motionless as her facial muscles suddenly relaxed. Godwin's facial muscles tightened as he extended his hand's grip to the utmost, squeezing as hard as he could to crush her for good.

And nothing happened.

"Don't you know the first thing a warrior learns on the battlefield?" Gally's voice asked and Godwin gasped as her knee suddenly met his stomach, sending him leaning over in pain while she jabbed him in his own cyborg arm with a quick two-fingered thrust. The attack struck an internal component, causing Godwin to let her go.

Gally stepped away from him, giving him a glare as she finished her statement. "Playing dead is essential to tricking your enemies!"

Godwin's eyes widened and he tried the taser again. Gally smiled and crossed her arms as the electricity hit her – yet it was now ineffective. Then he tried the previous trap and it was also to no avail as Gally started to casually crack her neck and knuckles.

"Please! Weapons like that!?" Nova's voice mocked as his hologram solidified once more. "Try again in at least one-hundred years! You're lucky Gally decided to even play along!"

Godwin frowned. "Well in that case, I'll just have to use this." Godwin said, as a duel disk broke out of the cyborg frame of his metal arm, shining with momentum energy.

Gally turned her head to the side and blinked.

"As Jack said, a duel is between two warriors' souls. This is my challenge." Godwin said, staring directly at her.

"Be that as it may, Gally-" Nova began. "-The time window you have to get back home is closing fast. I don't think you have time to duel him."

Gally smiled. "How about this? I'll have to turn that challenge down. You've already shown me enough of your soul." Godwin's eyebrows narrowed but he kept his composure as Gally kept speaking.

"I'll leave your world alone, starting now. And I'll take Nova's AI – and the Solid Vision prototype with me. You'll let me follow Yusei and Jack's duel, as that's the most likely way to send me home, if your Professor Akutsu was right about the amount of energy the next duel should produce." Gally said, echoing Nova's own research.

"I can agree to that, providing you leave immediately after." Godwin said as the duel disk retracted in his arm, him then extending his open cybernetic hand in a truce.

Gally accepted, clasping the hand.

Then Godwin was startled as his cyborg hand shattered apart once Gally tightened her own grip, the metallic fingers he's had around her neck moments ago now littering the floor as he looked dumbly as the crushed palm and exposed wiring that remained.

"Oh sorry. I forgot about my own strength." Gally said. "Besides, you had a limp handshake. I thought it would be stronger given how you grabbed me earlier" She said as she turned around.

"What she means is that your level of cybernetic technology is nothing compared to her own. She's just being discreet about it" Nova said with another hysterical laugh as his hologram vanished.

The pair left as Gally walked away, Godwin staring to the ground as he composed himself. No matter what happened regarding her, all would be well if his plan succeeded in the end.

/

The arena was quiet as both Riding Duelists pulled up to the starting line, a brief narration by the announcer given as the stadium almost entirely cheered for Jack.

"Ah, but before we begin, it seems that Director Godwin's adding a stipulation to this match!" The pompadoured announcer said. Gally's eyes widened as she saw footage of herself skating against Jack's monsters, and then riding on Junk Warrior's shoulder - now displayed to the entire audience.

"We're going to make things a bit more interesting, having our first-hand observer for the Riding Duel herself! Able to skate around the King's monsters, and fight them herself, I give to you the Battle Angel, Alita!" The man yelled as footage was shown of her skating around the various attacks of his Red Demon's Dragon.

Gally sighed and used the extra mass stored in her body to create her purple Motorball helmet. From the inset visor Gally wore, she could see Godwin's face smiling at her. He was now up in the viewer's box, his broken arm hidden behind his back as he looked down to observe the Duel about to begin.

"Gally, I think its best that you use this chance to return home. Things will only escalate in this world now that the battle of the Signers is nearing its climax." The Director said.

She narrowed her eyes. "Godwin. Be grateful I didn't dismantle your operation along with your arm."

"I am. And once again, I thank you for dealing with Bommer. But, I think we can understand you belong in your own world, as the Signers belong in theirs."

"Just don't get in my way." Gally said as she closed the comm channel, wheeling between Jack and Yusei's D-Wheels, both men looking to her in a mix of surprise.

"Gally!" Yusei said as she stopped and bumped his fist with her own.

"So you're here to see our duel then!" Jack said, glancing at her.

Gally nodded. "That's right. It's my way home, if Nova did all the math right." She admitted.

Jack nodded. "May it be a glorious enough parting gift then!" Jack said.

Then Yusei spoke up. "We'll settle things now! Jack! I'll show you the strength of my bonds!"

"Oh?" Jack asked. "Then you'll see the isolated, absolute power of the King!" He boasted. "And now that your friends are safe, will you rise to the challenge?"

Yusei smirked and began to turn the throttle to his machine as Jack did the same, their engines both whirring as the light of Momentum in each machine began to shine brighter.

/

"That's strange." Aki said, looking to the area as the cyborg woman stood in-between Yusei and Jack, this 'Alita' looking just as confident as the two competitors as she hunched over, ready to skate presumably behind both of their craft.

"Riding Duel, Acceleration!" Yusei and Jack declared as the duel began.

TURN 1: YUSEI: 4000 / JACK: 4000, SPC: 0 / 0

"The challenger will go first!" Jack declared, riding in front of Yusei as the two of them took off, the third party member skating off with her own impressive speed as she was close behind Yusei's D-Wheel despite her only using some kind of motorized skates.

"What's strange?" Divine asked as his face appeared on the holoscreen.

"That woman. She was at the Diamon Area and confronted me. Even with my Black Rose Dragon, she still was a challenge, though she's not a duelist herself." Aki said from her bathtub, looking down at her dark crimson bathing suit clinging to her body.

"Aki, I'm sure this is just a publicity stunt from Godwin. For now, please try to relax. You've done well enough for the Arcadia Movement right now. You need the rest." Divine said and his screen shut off. Aki looked to the duel as both duelists had finished their first turn now – Jack's Twin Breaker having shaved off fourteen-hundred of Yusei's life-points as Yusei's own Shield Wing staved off the swordsman's attacks with its effect.

"My turn!" Yusei yelled, drawing a second card as both players' Speed Counters increased.

TURN 3: YUSEI: 2600, JACK: 4000, SPC: 2 / 2

"I Summon Junk Synchron!" Yusei declared as his now famous orange tuner appeared beside him with a grunt (3/1300/500).

Aki looked to Yusei on the crimson wheel and wondered if the rider actually would have a chance at defeating Jack.

/

"Scrap Fist!" Yusei yelled as Junk Warrior's fist shattered apart Twin Breaker, Jack grunting as he took the damage (JACK: 4000 → 3300).

Then Jack took additional damage as Yusei's next trap – Synchro Blast – revealed itself, a white-hot beam of energy strafing by the engines of Jack's D-Wheel (JACK: 3300 → 2800).

Gally skated beside Yusei as the man's D-Wheel wasn't moving as much as Jack's. So far she hadn't had to do much, only staying aware that the monsters both men could summon might do different things. But with Jack going next, Gally had an idea of the creature he might conjurer to oppose Junk Warrior.

Jack explained some rules as his next card brought back the destroyed Twin Breaker – Increasing all of his stats. Gally recognized it as the Powerful Rebirth trap he'd used in their Riding Duel / Motorball hybrid match. Twin Breaker rose, and gained the boon from the card (4/1600/1000 → 5/1700/1100).

Then Jack summoned a new Tuner – Dark Repairer, a red-eyed, grinning and spidery looking fiend with different tools it held in claws at the end of its legs (3/1000/1300).

Jack espoused himself being a King three steps ahead of the commoners, before chanting the words of power that would call his most devastating creature.

_"The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Bear witness to a power that will shake all of creation! Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Demon's Dragon!"  
_  
From the pillar of green, Jack's red and black dragon emerged, spreading its wings as it roared a challenge to Junk Warrior.

Then Jack explained Dark Repairer's effect when it went to the graveyard, letting him draw a new card – which he did. Then he declared battle as his dragon moved, pulling back a fist and then throwing it forwards as Junk Warrior blasted towards it with a challenge as the Absolute Power Force attack clashed with Junk Warrior's Scrap Fist for a moment.

Then the power struggle broke as the dragon's fist shattered Junk Warrior, Yusei grunting as he lost some more life-points (YUSEI: 2600 → 1900).

Gally skated around the stray flames from the Absolute Powerforce attack, not taking any chances if Nova, Akutsu, and Godwin all agreed that things would escalate in this duel.

Then Jack ended his turn with some set cards.

Turn 5: YUSEI: 1900, JACK: 2800, SPC: 6 / 6

Yusei began his turn, the trap card Lost Star Descent brought back Junk Warrior (5 → 4 /2300/1300 → 0). And then he summoned a new tuner of his own, Hyper Synchron (4/1600/1400), blue, gold and bulky, the robot monster groaning as it separated into four rings circling around Junk Warrior as Gally heard Yusei chant the beast's invocation.  
_  
"Clustering Wishes form a new shining star! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Take flight, Stardust Dragon!"_ Yusei roared as the beast he'd worked so hard to re-attain appeared once again.

/

Jack couldn't help but grin as Stardust Dragon alighted onto the field with a roar, powering up from Hyper Synchron's effect (8/2500 → 3300/2000). The dragon was shrieking at Red Demon's as his own demonic dragon responded in kind.

"So you've finally appeared, Stardust!" Jack yelled in joy and anticipation to the rival dragon as his own mark burned with powerful energy.

Gally watched with awe as Yusei commanded Stardust to attack. Unlike most of the monsters she'd seen and encountered thus far, both Signer Dragons had an aura of their own, clashing as the two regarded one another. For a moment, it seemed that Yusei had the edge, but Jack was ready for him with his next move – Tuner Capture – a trap that let Jack steal Yusei's Hyper Synchron, summoning the Tuner to his own field.

Next was another trap of Jack's – Tuner's mind – breaking down Red Demon's Dragon back into Twin Breaker (4/1600/1000) and Dark Tinker (3/1000/1500).

Yusei tried to attack Twin Breaker with Stardust's attack, the lance of Shooting Sonic blasting out of his dragon's maw – but Tuner's Mind had another effect, as the attack was instead intercepted by Dark Repairer, allowing Jack to draw another card through its effect.

Still, Yusei wasn't done as Jack had to bear the damage from Synchro Blast yet again (JACK: 2800 → 2300).

Yusei prepared his field as Jack began his next turn. Twin Breaker was tuned by the stolen Hyper Synchron, Jack's Red Demon's Dragon bursting from the summon a second time, powering up by the ability of the tuner (8/3000 3800/2000).

Then Red Demon's slammed a blazing fist into Stardust Dragon, Yusei grunting as Stardust Dragon repelled the attack, Hyper Synchron's other effect preventing it immunity to battle destruction (YUSEI: 1900 1400).

Jack's wasn't done, however, as the trap card Demon Cannon revealed itself – a roaring dragon head, firing a blast of fire at Yusei (YUSEI: 1400 900).

Gally felt the heat rise - the clashing powers of the dragons was greater than the rest of the Solid Vision. And the tension between Yusei and Jack was so palpable she could sharped a knife with it.

The cyborg skated by, looking up to the dragons in particular. Crimson lighting flashed in the sky and she heard the crash of thunder with it. Then she heard a great wail as she beheld the same thing that Godwin had been seeking for years.

Long and serpentine, made of solid crimson energy, the dragon appeared from four blazing marks. Two claws, wings and a tail all transposing over the beast as its deep roar was one of ancient wisdom.

"So you've appeared, Crimson Dragon!" Jack yelled to the divine serpent. "Please bear witness to our duel!" He said.

Gally yelled as the long dragon dove towards the field, its gigantic body consuming all that was present on the field.

/

"Gally!" Yusei yelled, leaning over from the side of his D-Wheel to extend a gloved hand as the Crimson Dragon swooped down. Gally clasped his hand and a crimson barrier expanded from his glowing arm until it accommodated both Gally and himself. She took the opportunity to perch herself on top of the bike's overhead canopy once again, closing her eyes as all was enveloped in a flash of bright light.

Then Yusei gasped as the entire setting changed. Now he and Jack drove on a road of light, through space itself. Stars whizzed by them as both Yusei and Jack looked straight ahead to a temple above them, with an ancient South American design to it. As they got closer, Yusei and Jack could see groups of people praying, led by five people in robes, a shining red mark on each of their right arms.

"They have the same marks that we have!" Yusei said, observing the scene as they passed by it.

Gally looked up to see two orbs in the distance, red and trailing behind Yusei and Jack. Inside each bubble was Aki and Ruka, both looking surprised as they gazed down at the Riding Duel.

Then there was another image the five of them beheld. Satellite appeared, projected far below the road of white light as though they were looking down at a map of the place. Purple flames ignited, tearing through buildings and ground alike, until it resembled the image of a spider transposed over the landmass.

"What is it showing?" Gally asked.

"Could it be the future?" Jack asked and Yusei denied that.

"It can't be the future! I won't let that happen!"

"Yusei! Let's finish our duel!" Jack yelled, looking to Red Demon's and Stardust flying above them.

"Dueling brought us here, and that's how we'll get back home! Besides, I want to settle things with you, even if it means going through hell itself!" Jack said as he looked ahead and accelerated. "I set three cards face-down and end my turn!"

TURN 7: YUSEI: 900, JACK: 2800, SPC: 6 / 6

"My turn!" Yusei yelled as he drew the next card. Gally clutched the top of the Yusei-Go with both of her arms as she predicted things would get even more intense at this point.

"Speed Spell – Silver Contrails, giving a WIND – Attribute monster like Stardust Dragon one-thousand more attack points until the End Phase!" Yusei yelled as Stardust shimmered, powering up as blue flames burned around its form for a moment (8/3300 4300/2000).

"Now, Stardust Dragon! Attack Red Demon's Dragon! Shooting Sonic!" Yusei yelled, waving an arm and beckoning his dragon forwards.

The blast of white engulfed Jack's Dragon, striking Red Demon's, yet the dragon withstood the blast even as it impacted Jack. Jack Atlus yelled as he and his craft glowed with purple fire as the attack struck him (JACK: 2800 2300).

"What?! Real damage!?" Gally yelled as Yusei followed up. "Jack, are you ok!?" He asked to the rider ahead of him.

Jack retorted with tough words. "If you can worry about me, then worry about yourself!" He yelled back.

Yusei continued his turn. "The continuous trap, Synchro Blast!" Yusei yelled, waving his arm as a blast of power fired out from his trap again, striking Jack a second time (JACK: 2300 1900).

Then Gally saw Yusei set three trap cards as he ended his turn, Stardust Dragon's attack points returning to normal (4300 3300).

"It's my – turn!" Jack yelled, pulled from his deck of cards with vigor.

"Battle! Red Demon's Dragon, attack Stardust Dragon! Absolute Power Force!" Jack beckoned as he dragon attacked with another blazing fist. Now it was Yusei's turn to scream out in pain as the damage felt real (900 400). He wasn't the only one, as the impact of the burning fist into Stardust Dragon, and the force it created knocked Gally off of the Yusei-Go, sending her flying up into the air.

"Gally!" Ruka cried out as the cyborg was helpless against the lack of gravity, both Stardust and Red Demon's too far way to grasp onto. Gally felt herself rising into the sky, perhaps stranded in the strange dimension when she saw a faint aura of red, a bare arm wrapping around her waist as she was pulled into a shimmering red bubble.

Izayoi Aki held the cyborg in the bubble coming from her arm and looked lost herself as she Gally's face.

"She's ok. Yusei. Jack." Aki said aloud and Jack nodded before looking back to Yusei.

"This damage is proof of the Crimson Dragon's power! This is a true battle between Signers!" Jack yelled.

"Trap card, open! Cross-Line Counter!" Yusei yelled as his next trap sprung open, Stardust dragon suddenly gaining power and striking back as Red Demon's Dragon extended an arm to ward off as much damage as possible. Jack grunted as he took more damage himself (JACK: 1900 900).

Then Jack's face returned to normal and he smirked. "Now I play the Speed Spell – Overboost!" As Jack played the card, the twin engines on the back of his machine ignited with blue flames, sending him shooting far down the track of light, ahead of everything else like a blazing comet.

"Overboost instantly gives me five more Speed Counters!" Jack said, brandishing his next card. "Which lets me use the card of the King! I activate Speed Spell – The End of Storm!" He said, waving the card around in a few motions for emphasis as he played it, a sudden gust of winds blasting through the field.

"The End of Storm will destroy all monsters on the field and then we'll each take three-hundred points of damage per monster!" Jack explained.

"But Yusei doesn't have enough life-points to survive that move!" Aki said, gasping as she realized Jack's play. "Jack must want Yusei to use Stardust Dragon's effect!" She said to Gally.

"I Release Stardust Dragon to negate and destroy The End of Storm!" Yusei countered, holding up an arm as Stardust vanished into a haze of blue, the particles slamming into and consuming the dangerous winds.

The End of Storm abated and Jack spoke proudly. "That's right! You have no choice, Yusei! Then I'll use this! Sneak Mine! You'll take five-hundred points of damage at the next Standby Phase since I control a monster and you do not! I end my turn!" Jack declared, entirely confident in his own victory."

"Then – Stardust Dragon will return to the field!" Yusei said, playing his ace once again, the long bodied white and blue dragon returning with a growl, no longer affected by the power of Hyper Synchron (8/2500/2000).

"Trap activate!" Yusei yelled immediately as Stardust revived. "Meteor Stream!"

"But wouldn't Jack's Sneak Mine beat Yusei at this point?" Gally asked and Aki shook her head as she held onto the cyborg.

"No. Sneak Mine will only work once Yusei begins his next turn. And Meteor Stream is a trap card that can deal Jack one-thousand points of damage when a monster like Stardust Dragon that tributes itself is re-summoned to the field. But I don't think Jack's done yet." Aki explained.

Stardust Dragon arched its back and hurled itself forward, sending a swarm of small burning meteorites towards Jack.

"Hmph!" Jack yelled. "I knew you'd try to settle things with that card and I'm ready for you this time, Yusei!" Jack declared. "Behold my counter trap – Crimson Hell Flare!"

Gally recognized the secondary attack of Jack's dragon, surprised that it was its own card. The swarms of meteors crashed into a crimson barrier around the demonic dragon, Red Demon's basking in crimson flames as a blaze of fire built up in its own mouth.

"Crimson Hell Flare negates any damage I would take from your trap if I control 'Red Demon's Dragon', then it doubles it!" Jack said as it was Red Demon's turn to release a stream of crimson flames travelling towards Yusei.

"Yusei!" Gally heard Ruka shout as the fire blasted right at him.

"Counter trap – Shining Barrier – Silver Force!" Yusei interjected as a shimmering force field appeared around Stardust and himself, turning bright colors of red, yellow, blue, and green as the damage was completely canceled.

"Shining Silver Force is a trap card that negates any effect damage I would take from a trap card, and then it destroys all spell and trap cards you control!" Yusei explained as all of Jack's cards in his backrow shattered, Jack's expression becoming angry as his strategy was stopped.

"And then at the End Phase, Overboost will wear off, reducing your Speed Counters to one." Yusei explained and Jack grunted in both worry and frustration as his engine stopped accelerating – his speed dropping severely as Yusei caught up to – and passed him on the road of light (SPC: 11 1).

TURN 9: YUSEI: 400, JACK: 900, SPC: 8 / 1

"It's my - TURN!" Yusei yelled, drawing his card as Stardust Dragon roared beside him.

"Speed Spell – Final Attack!" Yusei cried out, instantly playing the card he'd drawn as Stardust Dragon crossing one arm in front of the other and lowered its head as it burned with white and blue power (8/2500 5000/2000).

"Speed Spell - Final Attack! It lets a duelist double a monster's attack points until the end of the turn!" Aki said, clutching Gally's arm in excitement within the red bubble.

"No one can ever break our bond, Stardust Dragon!" Yusei yelled, holding up an arm as Stardust complied with his wishes, charging a powerful blast in its maw as Yusei declared the attack.

"Shooting Sonic!"

The lance of white static was enormous, consuming Red Demon's Dragon as Jack's pride tried to shield his master the best he could – but even with the effect granting Red Demon's immunity to battle, it was not enough to stave off the pure power radiating from Stardust Dragon's attack. Jack screamed as the blast washed over him and he vanished from the field, as did Red Demon's Dragon.

Stardust Dragon turned and immediately looked to Gally, flying far above her and let out a roar.

Aki grabbed Gally's waist with both hands, spinning the Cyborg around and looking her in the eyes.

"Black Rose is telling me it's time for you to go home." The Psychic Duelist said. "Thank you for asking me what I fight for – I'm still figuring that out." She said to Gally with an uneasy smile. The Cyborg nodded, unsure what to say to her other than "Find something you can believe in. That's a good start.". The sea of stars ahead of them became a bright light as Yusei drove into it, vanishing as Jack had done earlier.

Gally felt Aki let go of her, Gally falling up as she left the protection of the crimson bubble emanating from Aki's arm.

Then she found she didn't need it anymore as wings of stardust had arrived, the slender dragon grabbing her around her waist and flying up to a higher peak, a blue shimmering space ahead of them.

Gally looked down to see Aki and Ruka looking back at her silently, vanishing as they also hit the barrier of white space and vanished. Then the cyborg glanced up to see Stardust did the same, arms, head and legs vanishing as its tail began to do the same.

Gally still felt like the dragon was holding her as the tail completely vanished. Now she was alone, flying towards the portal on wings of stardust. Then she saw a white flash and everything stopped.

/

Ruka felt herself return, her brother grabbing onto her with relief. Yusei and Jack had re-appeared on the track, Jack having wiped out.

Stardust and Red Demon's were still there, grey and statuesque as they stood and faced each other mid-snarl. Then the pair vanished as Himuro, Rua, and Yanagi looked on with confusion.

"What happened!?" Rua asked.

"Yusei won." Ruka said, having seen the last attack herself. The declaration startled Yanagi and her brother, but Himuro grinned as he looked to Yusei's life-points. "I knew he could do it! These eyes of mine saw a champion!" The former pro duelist said with a grin as Ruka looked to Yusei on the track, wondering what the man would do now that he'd won the title of King.

/

Aki Izayoi felt Black Rose's reassuring grunt as she was overtaken by the light, the flash sending her back into the bathtub as though she'd never left. Aki looked up to the screen and saw that Yusei and Jack had evidently returned, Jack's life-points reduced to zero.

She sat up and let the water flow down from her hair, looking to her hands that moment ago were saving a former enemy from her death.

"_What am I fighting for?"_ Aki asked herself, repeating the cyborg woman's question to herself.

"And the winner of this Fortune Cup is-~!" The announcer began as Aki stood up and threw a towel around her head, beginning to dry herself off.

/

Nova smiled on the computer monitor as Gally opened her eyes, shaking her head to look around.

"Well how was your way back?" Nova asked and Gally rubbed her eyes, glad that the Imaginos Body was still intact.

"Very hectic at the end there." The cyborg said.

"Ah, I see! And I feel! What an experience! I only wonder how you got back." Nova said, holding up a finger.

"Dragon magic is the short answer. But a card game was involved." Gally said, looking around. It was a place she didn't recognize. "I guess Godwin got what he wanted in the end, even if I did wind up twisting his arm a bit."

"Ah, well did you miss our Earth?" Nova asked.

"I did a little, but there were enough similarities that I didn't get too homesick. Where are you?" Gally said, crossing her arms and Nova sighed.

"I'm in Zalem. As are you – after all, it's where I set your body to return to." The scientist said. "I want that brain chip." He said, holding up a finger.

"I'll think about it only because I like the new body. And only if I can see Lou again." Gally said, adamant to re-unite with her friend.

"Er – I suppose that can be arranged." Nova said awkwardly, obviously uncomfortable with the subject.

Gally glared at the computer. "Where are you in Zalem?" Gally asked and the man grinned.

"I was killed. Again. I suppose a back-up of me is around here somewhere, but for now see what there is to see since you're finally up here. The back-up of me should be on his way soon." Nova explained.

Gally huffed and wondered just what would happen next, using the Imaginos body's plasma jets to sketch the likeness of three dragons onto the metal wall.

"Zalem." Gally said, finally at the place Yugo had sacrificed so much to try and reach. It felt just as false as the previous city she'd been in. "Kind of a let-down." She said, stepping back from the crude image of the central dragon she'd burned into the wall, wondering what the spider signified, and just how that tournament wrapped up after the man from Satellite won. And most importantly how the people called Signers would act as the tournament drew to a close.

Gally dismissed the 'what-if's, focusing on what she would do next. For now there was a corrupt City of her own to deal with. And all the Rex Godwins and Desty Novas in the universe couldn't stop her now.


End file.
